Change of hearts
by ninja-kitty-13
Summary: Small events put Sora in a confused state while Riku runs around looking for kairi and Sora. What happens when Riku gets the keyblade?
1. Sora's dream

I've been having these weird thoughts lately.

Like is any of this for real or not?

A spiky, brown haired boy could be seen spiraling down in the water. There was a flash of light, and the same boy could be seen just off shore, trying to catch a fish. He splashed around trying to grab it with his hands. He then slipped and almost fell into the water, but managed to keep himself up. He reached into the water and pulled out a fish with a big goofy grin on his face. Then he seemed to hear something and turned to look at the shore. He saw a teenager with silver hair run up to the shore and start yelling at him. The brown haired boy looked confused, and then turned to see a wave coming. He jolted, letting the fish go and tried to run to shore but he didn't seem to get anywhere. He was too late. The wave washed over him and swept him away, falling deeper and deeper into the water.

He landed on his feet in pure darkness. He looked around trying to figure out where he was. He then spotted a door and ran to it. The closer he got to it the more it faded away until it was completely gone. He stopped and looked in another direction and saw a red haired girl who seemed to be calling for him. He said something and ran towards her. She reached out for him then disappeared. He stopped again then turned around to see the silver haired boy reaching towards him, just out of reach. He tried to reach for him but was stuck. He continued to try and reach the silver haired boy but he was swept away from him.

He looked around cautiously, taking small circular steps. The darkness underneath him turned into birds which started flying away to reveal a platform that almost looked like it was made of stained glass. Most of the platform was green and yellow, many shades of green and yellow. The main focus was a young woman with black hair. She wore a blue top and a long yellow skirt. Around her face were seven circles with a face in each of them. He looked around then heard a voice.

_Take your time. Don't be afraid._

_Can you do it?_

He stepped into the middle of the floor and watched as three stone pedestals came up from the ground. One had a staff, one had a shield and the last one had a sword.

_Choose well._

He went straight forward, jumped on to the pedestal with the sword, and picked it up.

_Is this the power you seek?_

He looked up then nodded. The sword turned into light then disappeared.

_Your path is set._

_Now, what will you give up in exchange?_

He looked at the other two stone platforms and went over to the staff. He got on to the platform, looked at the staff and picked it up.

_You give up this power?_

He nodded again and the staff turned into light and disappeared.

_You've chosen the power of the worrier._

_You've given up the power of the mystic._

_Is this the form you choose?_

He hesitated then nodded. The pedestals started to shake and faded into the floor. He fell off the one he was standing on and looked around. The whole floor started to shake like there was an earthquake. The floor then began to shatter around him until there was no floor and he started to fall. He continued to fall then he saw another stained glass floor, a lot like the first, but this time the main colors were purples and blues. The main focus was a young woman with golden blonde hair that was pulled back into a simple, but elegant bun. She wore a pale blue ball gown. In the background was a curvy carriage. He gently landed on his feet. The sword from earlier appeared in his hand and he swung it.

_There will be a time when you have to fight._

He looked around to see a bunch of strange creatures that looked like shadows. They could dissolve into the ground but they could still be seen. Every time they came into striking range he attacked them until they were all gone. Suddenly, he saw darkness start to cover the floor. He looked around to find a way to escape, but before he could, the darkness started to suck him down.

He struggled, trying to get away, but it just kept pulling him down. He reached out one last time until he completely vanished. He struggled then opened his eyes to see he was on yet another floor. This floor was different; it still had two main colors which were pink and white. This time, though, instead of a young woman there were three hearts. In each heart was a silhouette and each had a different symbol. One had a moon, one had the sun, and one just had light from behind. He stood up and saw a door on the other side of the platform. He went over and examined it. It was transparent but it then became solid. He opened the door and was surrounded by light. The light died down and he found himself on a wooden deck with three people sitting around.

_Hold on. The door won't open just yet._

_First, tell me more about yourself._

He walked over to a brown haired girl sitting on the railing. "What is most important to you? Being number one, friendship, or your prized possessions?" she asked.

'Well my friends are important, same with my memories. So I guess my possessions.' He thought then responded, "My prized possessions!"

"Are possessions such a big deal?"

He turned and looked at the next person who was a blonde haired boy. He went over to the blond haired kid. "What are you afraid of? Getting old, being different, or being indecisive?" the kid asked.

"I guess…Being indecisive."

"Being indecisive? Is that really so scary?"

He turned to the last person, a red haired boy, and walked over to him. "What do you want outta life? To see rare sights, to broaden your horizons, or to be strong?" The red haired boy asked.

"To be strong, so I can protect my friends," he answered.

"To be strong, huh?"

_Your adventure begins in the dead of night._

_Your road won't be easy, but a rising sun awaits your journey's end._

There was another flash of light and he found himself on another platform. This one had a young woman with blonde. She held a bright, red rose in her hands and wore a long purple dress. It was mainly purple and red except for the green thorns that wrapped around the young woman. He walked towards the light in the middle of the platform and more of the shadows from before popped up. He took them all down and saw a spotlight go to the side of the platform. The spotlight vanished and stairs started to appear. One by one they were created in rapid speed, until they led all the way to the next platform. He went over and started running up the staircase. He looked back to see the staircase slowly disappear as he got closer to the next floor. The floor looked bright with yellows and browns. The young woman on it had brown hair. Her dress was a beautiful yellow ball gown. He got to the next platform and walked to the center. He looked up to see light filtering down.

_The closer you get to light,_

_The greater your shadow becomes._

He turned around to see his shadow get bigger and start lifting up out off the ground. He backed up a bit as it got bigger and went from 2-D to 3-D. It changed. It had a huge hole in its chest shaped like a heart, small yellow eyes, and its hair fell around in random spots. Its upper body was way bigger then its lower body.

_But don't be afraid._

He ran to the edge and almost tumbled over the edge. He turned, drew out his sword, and faced the giant shadow, charging at it. He slashed at its hand, avoiding its attacks and defeating the small shadows it kept calling to fight. At a point, the giant shadow looked at him. He jumped back and looked at the sword as it disappeared from his hand. He looked back at the shadow and barely jumped out of the way as it smashed its fist into the ground. It tried to hit him again and he jumped back and fell down. The shadow towered over him. A pool of darkness appeared underneath him but he was staring at the giant shadow.

_-But don't be afraid._

The darkness started to wrap around his legs and arms and he began to struggle. The darkness then pulled him down. He continued to struggle and reached his hand out trying to grab onto something. The giant shadow just towered over him. He looked up at it one last time then he completely disappeared into the darkness.


	2. Day one

Sora woke up to a log landing on his stomach and knocking the wind out of him. He sat up and looked at the log. "What?" He heard someone laugh behind him and turned to see Riku.

"Hey, look who finally decided to wake up."

"Sora, you lazy bum. You're supposed to be helping us build the raft, but you're down here snoozing," Kairi said as she walked up.

"No! There was this big black thing and it swallowed me up! I couldn't- ow!" Sora said as Kairi smacked him on the head.

"Are you still dreaming?" Kairi asked.

"It wasn't a dream. Or was it? I don't know," Sora dropped his head and looked at the ground.

"Come on you two, we're supposed to be working on the raft," Riku reminded them.

"Ok. I'll race you!" Kairi chimed.

"What? Are you kidding?" Sora said. He looked at the log and pushed it off of him.

"Ready? Go!" Kairi shouted. Sora and Riku looked at each other and Riku took off running. Sora got up and tripped over the log. He stumbled but kept running, trying to catch up to Riku. Kairi ran after them so she wouldn't get left behind, laughing the whole way. Riku was the first one to reach the door, and Sora soon joined him.

"You got a head start," Sora complained after he caught his breath.

"You can worry about that later. Right now let's get the materials for the raft, ok?"

"We'll have a rematch later," Riku said, and Sora nodded in agreement.

"Ok, so we still need two logs, a rope and a cloth," Kairi told them.

"You get one log, I get the other?" Riku suggested.

"Yeah, and I'll get the rope."

"So I get the cloth. Sounds good," They both agreed and ran off. Riku headed towards the paopu tree, knowing there was a log near there, Sora went and got the one on the beach that was thrown at him.

"Hey, what's happening, man?" Wakka called to Sora. "You up for a round?"

"Maybe later. Riku and I are gathering supplies."

"What're you guys up to, anyway? Whatever it is, be careful. Of course, having Riku along should be a big help."

"Yeah, well, he's not the only one helping," Sora stated. He picked up the log and went to give it to Kairi. Riku was heading back as well and they both gave the logs to Kairi.

"Ok. We still need the cloth and rope!" Kairi yelled at them but they were already out of sight.

Sora climbed up the ladder to the left, to get to the deck and Riku ran to the right. He ran up to the small ladder then paused to look down at the entrance to the cave that was hidden, in the shadows between the big tree and the rock wall. He grinned and continued to the tree house where there was a cloth hung on the wall. He ran down to the ladder but jumped down instead. He jumped down again, ran down the ramps and back to Kairi.

"Ok! All we need now is the rope Sora's getting." Kairi said and grinned.

"I'll be waiting by the paopu tree." Riku said and started heading for the tree. He got to the tree and sat down on the trunk, while looking out at the ocean.

"Hey Riku!" Sora yelled as he ran up.

"Did you give all your supplies to Kairi?"

"You bet!"

"Then how about a quick round? Grab your sword."

"Okay, you're on!"

"This one decides the champion!" Riku declared and jumped down. They moved to a good spot and stood in there ready stances. "Ready or not." Sora made the first move and charged at Riku. Riku easily dodged and attacked Sora from behind. Sora turned around and swung at Riku, but Riku blocked the hits, countering after the third try. Sora managed to get in a couple of blows, causing Riku to fall backwards, but he leapt back up, hitting Sora as he passed him. They continued fighting like this for a while. Sora was on offense while Riku was mainly on defense. After a while the duel was over and Riku won.

"Man, now the score's 0 to 1!" Sora whined in defeat. Kairi came over and looked at the two of them.

"Tired? How about we call it a day?"

"Sounds good to me," Riku said and put his wooden sword away.

"Yeah, sure," Sora said. Sora went over to the paopu tree and sat high up on the trunk.

"Okay, it is getting late. We'll finish up tomorrow." Kairi said and sat next to Sora. Riku also went over but he leaned against the trunk instead of sitting down. They sat and watched the sunset, until Sora spoke up.

"So, Kairi's home is out there somewhere. Right?"

"Could be. We'll never know by sitting here," Riku replied.

"But how far could a raft take us?"

"Who knows? If we have to, we'll think of something else."

"So, suppose you do get to another world. What would you do there?" Kairi asked.

"I haven't really thought about it. Guess I won't know until I get there. It's just, why are we here? On this island? If there are other worlds out there, we could just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?" Riku answered.

"I don't know," Sora said and laid down.

"Exactly."

"How many worlds do you think are out there?" Sora wondered out loud.

"I'm not sure, but we need to go out there and find out. So let's go."

"Yeah, let's go." Sora said and looked out at the sunset. It started to get darker and they decided to head home. Kairi walked ahead, while Sora and Riku followed behind.

"Sora." Riku called tossing a fruit to him. Sora turned and caught the fruit.

"A paopu fruit?"

"If two people share one, there destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what." Riku explained and walked past Sora. Sora turned and looked at Riku confused. "C'mon, I know you want to try it." Riku slightly laughed and started running.

"What are you talking-" Sora was still confused. He tossed the fruit off the bridge and chased after Riku.

Meanwhile, at Disney castle, Donald was flying around corners screaming. He ran in to the garden to find Goofy sleeping soundly on the flowers. "Wake up Goofy, wake up! This is serious!"

Goofy didn't budge, he just continued snoring. Donald, with his short temper, cast thunder to wake up Goofy. Goofy sat up and looked at Donald.

"Hey there Donald. G'morning."

"We got a problem Goofy! But don't tell anyone…" Donald quietly said, looking around.

"Queen Minnie?"

"Not even the Queen." Donald said sticking his bill in the air.

"Daisy?"

"No! It's top secret!"

"G'morning ladies!" Goofy said looking past Donald and slightly bowing.

"Wha?" Donald turned around to see Queen Minnie and Daisy standing there. Daisy cleared her throat and Donald gave a nervous laugh.


	3. Riku's dream

I'd like to apologies. I was going to update every sunday but I didn't. It was really hard to write and my editor didn't help me but she was busy so don't blame her. This one is the longest so far which sn't saying much sense this is only the third chapter...I must say this chapter gave me a lot of troubles...If you see anything wrong please tell me I would really appreciate it! I would like to thank everyone that has read this so far because I thought only 3 or 4 people would read it . So THANK YOU! A story is waisted if there are no readers. If you could help in any way, shape, form, time, or anything like that then please do!

* * *

What worlds lie beyond the ocean?

I have a feeling we'll find out soon.

Riku was falling down, head first. He looked at the ocean and reached out. There was a flash of light and Riku was on the beach sitting next to Sora. They watched Kairi, splashing in the water, smiling and laughing. Riku spotted a wave coming and got Sora's attention and pointed it out to him. Sora jumped to his feet and ran to Kairi. Riku stood up and tried to warn him, but Sora didn't listen. Riku ran after Sora to help get Kairi out of there. Kairi started to head for shore. Riku and Sora turned, looking at the wave just as it arched over them. It seemed to hang there for a moment then crashed down, sweeping Sora and Riku away. They were under for a while, then Riku surfaced. He went to the shore and looked around for Sora and Kairi. They were no where to be seen. He turned, to look at the ocean but got distracted by the sky. Many stars were falling, and one stood out. It wasn't a star though. It was him. He stood there staring not even realizing he was starting to fall. He opened his eyes to realize he was falling through the sky. He looked down at the water and splashed down seconds later. He fell deeper, and deeper, until there was almost no light.

He landed on his feet and looked around. He took a small step and the dark ground turned into tons of white birds that flew away to reveal a platform. The platform was mainly blue and green. There was a young girl with long blonde hair and a blue and white dress sitting in the center. Around her head were three circles. One had a lady, who looked a bit on the chubby side, wearing a crown, a white rabbit wearing glasses in another, and a strange pink and purple cat with a big grin in the last one. Around the edges were more circles that had things like many types flowers, roses that were half red half white, a caterpillar, bottles, cards that had faces, two guys that looked rather round and other things. Then Riku heard a voice.

_So much to do,_

_so little time..._

_The door is still shut_

_Now step forward._

He walked forward, to the middle of the floor. He turned to see a stone pedestal start to come out of the floor.

_Power sleeps within you._

A shield appears on the stone stand. Another stone platform started to rise from the ground.

_If you give it a form..._

A staff appears on that platform then one last pedestal starts to rise.

_It will give you strength._

A sword appears on the last stand. He looked at the sword in front of him then turned and looked at the stone foundation the shield was sitting on. He walked over and jumped on the stone stand. He picked up the shield and looked at it.

_The power of the guardian._

_Kindness to aid friends._

_A shield to repel all._

_Is this the power you seek?_

"Yes," Riku nodded. The shield turned into light and disappeared.

_Your path is set._

_Now,what will you give up in exchange?_

He looked at the other two choices. He thought for a moment then went over to the sword. He jumped on to the pedestal and grabbed the sword.

_The power of the warrior._

_Invincible courage._

_A sword of terrible destruction._

_You give up this power?_

"Courage and destruction... I don't need a sword to have courage!" Riku figured that was a good enough answer because the sword turned into a ball of light then faded into nothing.

_You've chosen the power of the guardian._

_You've given up the power of the warrior._

_Is this the form you choose?_

"Yes," Riku said confidently. The pedestal under his feet started to collapse causing him to be thrown on to the ground. He almost fell to his knees but he was able to keep himself up. He watched as the pedestals ceased to exist after they collapsed. The Ground started to disappear, fading into nothing from the outside in. Once the ground was gone, Riku started to fall. He wasn't falling for long.

Soon he saw another platform. It was green and yellow. As he got closer he could see a young woman with black hair was sitting in the of the floor. She wasn't wearing a dress but rather puffy green pants and a green belly shirt. Around her head were four circles. One had a picture of a small old man with a white beard and a big hat. The next one had a picture of a young man with black hair and a small red hat. The third one was a rather skinny, creepy man with a goatee, he wore a tall hat and carried a staff with the shape of a cobra head at the top. The last circle had a person with blue skin. He had a small black ponytail and goatee. To frame the floor were pictures of things like a monkey, a parrot, a carpet, a lamp, and an interesting cave entrance shaped like a tiger's head.

Riku safely landed near the bottom edge of the platform. A ball of light appeared in his hand then turned into the shield from earlier. He swung, testing how it felt.

_You've gained the power to fight._

_Use this power to protect yourself and others._

_There will be a time when you have to fight._

_Keep your light burning strong._

Riku turned to see a shadow not to far away. He leaned forward trying to figure out what was casting the shadow but there was nothing there. He was surprised to see the shadow start to rise up from the ground. The shadow had glowing yellow eyes. Several more of these shadows popped up, constantly fidgeting around, unable to stand still. One jumped high in the air and tried to attack Riku, but Riku barely dodged the shadow. Some more started to attack him so he fought back. After a while of fighting with the shadows, he defeated them all. Once the last one disappeared the ground started to shake. He looked around the see the floor was cracking. The cracks quickly spread until they covered the whole floor. He took one step and the whole floor shattered making him and all the shards of the floor fall. He was plunged into darkness and fell for a while.

At a point he woke up to find himself laying down on a blue floor. First thing he noticed was that there were three hearts with a silhouette in each decorating the floor. One had a moon shining down on the silhouette, one had a sun, and one seemed to have light coming from behind the silhouette. Standing in front of the three hearts was a door. He got up and walked over to the door. It started to open and a bright white light spilled out of it. The bright light soon engulfed him then faded away to reveal that he was now on a wooden deck with three people hanging around.

_Hold on._

_The door won't open just yet._

_First, tell me more about yourself._

He walked over to Selphie. "What's most important to you? Being number one, friendship-"

"Friendship" He responded without letting her finish.

"Is friendship such a big deal?" She asked.

He ignored the comment and went over to Tidus. "What are you afraid of? Getting old, being different, or being indecisive?"

"Getting old, I guess." Riku slightly shrugged.

"Gettin' old? Is that really so scary?"

Riku didn't hear the question because he was already heading over to Wakka. "What do you want out of life? To see rare sights, to broaden your horizons, or to be strong?"

"To broaden my horizons."

"To broaden your horizons, huh?"

_You want friendship._

_You're afraid of getting old_

_You want to broaden your horizons._

_Your adventure begins at midday._

_Keep a steady pace and you'll come through fine._

_The day you will open the door is both far off and very near._

There was a flash of light and Riku found himself on a different floor. This one was purple and pink and surprised him. The main focus of this platform was Kairi. A picture of Riku was on one side of her head and Sora on the other side. Around the platform were pictures of Wakka, Tidus, Selphie, and objects like the door in the hidden spot, a paopu fruit and wooden swords. He walked to the middle of the floor and looked around at it. He spotted one for those shadows from earlier and pulled out his shield. He turned to see more popping up. He let them make the first move but he made sure to make the last. After they were all gone a spotlight seemed to appear. He moved towards the light and the light started moving towards the top end of the floor. The light disappeared and a stair formed where the light was. Another formed then another and they formed quicker until they stopped and at the other end was a floor.

Riku ran up the stairs and the next floor was different then any of the others so far. It was mainly black and white. To frame the colorless focus were seven colorful circles. Three were from earlier but four of them he didn't recognize. They all had female figures on them though, but thats not what stood out. In the middle was a big, white door. On it was a heart with a crown sitting lopsided on the top of part of the heart. On one side of the door was a black silhouette with a white outline. The other side had and all white figure. The rest of the floor was black. The figures on either side of the door seemed familiar. He moved towards the center of the platform.

_The closer you get to the light,_

_the greater your shadow becomes._

Riku looked behind him to see his shadow. He turned to face it and it turned to face him. It started to lift up from the ground. It seemed to change as it stood up on it's feet. Riku looked at it in shock as it towered over him.

_But don't forget..._

He snapped out of it and had his shield appear. The thing swooped its hand up into the air then pounded in into the ground. Riku ran up it's arm and attacked it's head. When it got up he attacked it's arms. He continued like that until his shield disappeared. He stood his ground only moving when the thing tried to smash him into the ground. He tried to move but found he was being pulled down by a bunch of darkness which made him fall backwards. The shadow creature just stood there, almost macing him.

_You hold the mightiest weapon of all._

'I won't give up!' He struggled to get away from the darkness but did not succeed.

_So don't forget:_

It seemed the darkness would win but a blinding light covered everything, making the darkness disappear.

_You are the one who will open the door._


	4. Day 2

The third chapter was the hardest one... or so I thought. This one proved to be harder and I'm sure it will only get harder. This s actually really hard for me because I know the kh story line TOO well... If you don't know how that's possible then don't worry about it. Anyway I think this chapter came out well and I can't wait to put up the next couple of chapters! Hopefully they won't give me headaches trying to write them XP. Especially sense I'm adding in some other characters, that will be hard. And no they are not oc characters. I think that's all... Thanks for reading... Or should i say that at the end of the chapter...?

* * *

Sora woke up early and went to the island everyone hangs out on. He got there as the sun was trying to light up the island from behind the big tree. He wandered over to the waterfall by the big tree then looked at the gap hidden in a crack against the rock wall. He wiggled his way through the hole and walked down the narrow path. At the end of the path it opened up in to a small cave. Sora walked into the small cave and the first thing he looked at was the door. He examined it as he got closer. "Why is this door here?" Sora wondered a loud.

"Do you know what lies beyond the door?" A cloaked man asked. He stood in a shadow next to the door.

Sora jumped when the man spoke. "When did you get here? Who are you?"

"Do you know what's beyond the door?"

"No...But I'll find out!"

"There is so very much to learn, you understand so little. A meaning less effort."

"Whys that?"

"One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

"Oh yeah? Well I'll show you! I'll find out what's behind that door! You'll see!"

"This world has been connected. The darkness will eclipse this world."

"What are you talking about?"

"Soon the heartless will come to this world. Think you can stand up to them?"

"I can stand up to anything!"

"Such confidence. We'll see if you still have that confidence when they come."

Sora looked at the door. He turned to look back at the man but he was gone. He looked at the door again, examining it. He reached for the door. He searched for a way to open it, since there was no doorknob. He gripped the side of the door, ready to pry it open.

"Sora!" Kairi's voice called from outside.

"Come on Sora, there's still work to do!" Riku yelled.

Sora listened as they called him. He let go of the door and turned around. He took a couple of steps, starting to head out. He stopped when he saw Riku running towards him. "Whoa!" Sora yelled just as Riku came to a stop. They stood just inside the cave, out of the narrow path.

"What are you doing? Trying to get out of helping again?"

"No. I was going to see what was on the other side of that door. Do you know?"

"No. Don't worry about it. Come on, we still have to gather supplies for tomorrow."

"Yeah, let's go!" Sora ran past Riku and out of sight. Riku stood there and saw a figure out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see who it was, but the figure was gone, or was never there.

"Hurry up, Riku!" Kairi yelled.

Riku stared at where he thought there was a figure, a little suspicious.

"Now who's trying to get out of helping?" Sora taunted.

"Hey, I'm not the one who fell asleep on the beach!" He yelled back then went out to join Sora and Kairi.

"Ok! We're going to get the food today then finish up the raft!" Kairi stated when Riku came out. "We need: 3 mushrooms, 3 coconuts, 4 fish, a seagull egg, and fresh water!" Kairi held out an empty canteen.

"I'll get the fresh water and the coconuts!" Sora grabbed the canteen from Kairi.

"I'll get the mushrooms, seagull egg, and 2 of the fish," Riku decided and ran off.

"Wait a minute. There were 4 fish!" Sora yelled, running after Riku.

"Sora! Make sure you get fresh water, not salt water!" Kairi yelled.

Riku ran down to the ocean, followed by Sora. "There are 4 fish, not 2."

"Let's see who can catch them first," Riku said.

"You're on!" Sora slung the canteen over his shoulder and wadded in the water up to his knees.

"Ready?" Riku scanned the water for nearby fish.

"Go!" Sora yelled. They both took off trying to catch the fast fish. The fish slipped away from them everytime.

At one point, Sora went out too far and had to swim back. Riku was up to his waist in the water with his back to the ocean. He was just about to grab a fish when a wave knocked him over. He got back up and shook his head.

After a while of splashing around they caught some fish.

"Second one!" Sora yelled.

"Caught two," Riku said at the same time Sora yelled.

"We tied?" Sora was a little disappointed.

"Hey, there's still more to gather," they looked at each other, silently agreeing to race. They nodded and took off to collect more things.

Sora went to the cove, where he and Riku always race, towards the coconut trees. He took the route that lead to the star shaped tree and jumped onto of the nearest coconut tree. He tried to jump onto the trunk of another tree but missed and fell to the ground, landing on his butt. He pouted and stared up at the tree.

Sora stood back up, determined to get the coconuts, and started climbing the tree. He wrapped his arms and legs around the trunk of the tree. He scrunched his body, bringing his legs higher, then stretched as far as he could. It didn't take long for him to get to the top. He let go of the tree with his hands, letting his legs keep him up and started pulling at one of the coconuts.

Sora struggled with the coconut for a minute, then with a strong yank, pulled the coconut and him off the tree. He fell to the ground, landing on his back with a thud. He held the coconut out in front of him, and grinned.

"One down, two to go. I'm gonna win this one!" Sora set the coconut down and started climbing another tree.

Meanwhile, Riku ran to the cove as well and grabbed two mushrooms. "I need one more," He stepped out of the hole he was in and looked around, not seeing anymore when he remembered seeing one in the secret spot. He heard a thud and looked to see what caused the sound. In the bundle of coconut trees Sora was on the ground holding a coconut. "Sleeping again, Sora?" Riku called, but Sora didn't seem to hear him. Sora was already back up and climbing a tree. Riku shook his head and started heading for the secret spot. He already got the seagull egg and gave it to Kairi. He saw Kairi sitting near the waterfall stringing shells together. She looked up, realizing he was there.

"Hey! Did you get everything?" She asked.

"I still need one more mushroom." He walked past her, towards the gap next to the tree.

"Ok, but hurry up! We still have to finish with the raft!" She called as he disappeared into the moss covered hole in the wall.

When he got into the small cave he looked at the door then looked to the side to see a mushroom hiding behind a rock. He bent down and grabbed the mushroom. The drawings on the wall he recognized as Sora and Kairi. As he stood back up he noticed a guy standing next to the door. "Who are you?" Riku asked, he didn't know the guy and, suspected, it was the guy he thought he saw earlier in the same spot.

"I have come to see the door to this world. That other boy, so naive, he will be over come by darkness. What about you? Are you smarter then him?"

"Huh? 'Other boy'? You mean Sora? What 'darkness'?"

"The heartless will come. This world will return to the darkness from whence it came. Even you will return to darkness."

"We'll see about that," Riku stated defiantly.

"You may act tough now but once the heartless get here you won't stand a chance."

"What are heartless?"

"You'll know when the door opens."

"Really?" Riku glanced at the door, it showed no signs of opening anytime soon. He turned to look back at the man but he was gone. Riku stood there staring at the spot the man was for a moment then left the cave. When he stepped out he noticed Sora was standing next to Kairi with his hands behind his head, grinning.

"Looks like I win this time!"

"Looks like it." He walked over and gave Kairi the mushrooms.

"We're not done yet!" Kairi stated as Sora started waking off.

"What?!" Sora turned and looked at her in shock.

"We still have to finish putting the raft together!"

"Yeah, come on Sora," Riku grinned. Sora grinned back and they sped down along the beach and out for sight. Kairi followed after them but not as fast.

They got to the cove, where the raft was sitting and got to work. The raft was already half way made. "Hey, Riku, could you hand me the rope?" Sora asked. Sora was holding a couple of logs, trying to keep them from rolling away.

"Catch," Riku tossed the rope, paying more attention to what he was doing the the rope.

"Whoa!" Sora leaned over to catch the rope. One of the logs got away as he fumbled with the rope. When he realized the log rolled into the ocean he gave up on the rope and chased after the log. He dragged the log back to shore and tied the one that got away to the other log. Kairi laughed at what happened and Riku looked up not sure why she was laughing. He assumed it was something Sora did and got back to work. By the time the sun was starting to set the raft was done. Sora and Kairi where leaving as Riku made sure the raft wouldn't float away. Riku went to the boats to see Kairi's and Sora's boats were still there but he didn't see them nearby. He hopped in his boat, looking around for them one last time. After scanning the area he figured they were not heading back yet and left.

Meanwhile, Donald, goofy, Queen Minne and Daisy were talking. "We'll find the King, don't worry!" Donald told Queen Minne.

"Yeah, and we'll find that key to, ahuck."

Queen Minne nodded. "Thank you, and to chronicle you travels Jimminy will go with you."

The little cricket jumped up and down on the table. "Jimminy cricket at your serves," He took off his hat and bowed.

Donald nodded Goofy picked up the cricket and they both headed for the gummy ship.

"So, uh, your world disappeared, too?"

"Yes and as far as I can see, I'm the only one who made it to this castle."

"Remember, Goofy, we have to protect the world order."

"Gotcha. That means we can't let on where we're from. I guess this means we'll need new duds when we get there."

They got to where the gummy ship was. "Any time you're ready, launch crew!" Donald called into the communication thing that was there.

Chip nodded to his brother and Dale pulled the leaver. Donald and Goofy were put into the gummy ship. The door in front of the gummy ship opened. Daisy and Minny stood nearby and Donald gave a thumbs up to them. He winked at Daisy then faced forward. He pointed straight in front of him then yelled, "Let's go!"

Instead of going forward the gummy ship started falling down a different path. Goofy and Donald yelled as they tumbled down. Once they were off the planet they drove off to another world.


	5. The night

I liked this chapter even though it's short. So I hope you like it too. That's all.

* * *

Riku was laying on his bed in his room. He couldn't sleep with the thought of leaving the islands on his mind. He also wondered about those 'heartless' the man was talking about were. Then he decided to do something. He looked out the window to see storm clouds over the island the group always hang out on. "The raft!" He jumped up from his bed and left his house. As he ran to the docks he thought he saw something move but didn't stop to see what. He got to the island as fast as he could. "Looks like Sora and Kairi are here."

"Riku!" Kairi yelled. Riku turned to see Kairi running towards him but stopped as black creatures popped up from the ground. He was about to run over to help her but more popped up in front of him.

"Kairi, run!" He pulled out his wooden sword and attacked the things but soon realized this was doing nothing. He avoided them as they slashed at him, distracting them so they wouldn't go after Kairi. He looked over to see Kairi running for the secret spot. He continued to fight them off with little effect.

One managed to catch him off guard and he fell to the ground, and lost his grip on the sword. A pool of darkness appeared under him and was pulling him down. He struggled as much as he could, trying to reach for his sword. There was a bright light as he found the sword and swung it hitting several of the creatures. The dark pool was gone, and he realized that he didn't grab his wooden sword. Before he could figure out what the sword he grabbed was, he realized the creatures were still there. He jumped back as one attacked him and slashed at it. The thing seemed to explode, in a way, and what was left faded away. He raised the sword in his battle ready stance, knowing now that he could hurt the creatures.

He fought them for a while, making a good dent in their numbers, then spotted Sora near the paopu tree. He looked at the creatures then spotted an opening and took off towards the stairs that lead to the tree. He was half way a cross the bridge and saw that Sora was being pulled down by one of those dark pools. Sora was already almost gone but he was still trying to get away. Riku ran faster to try and help Sora. Sora's hand was still reaching out, trying to grab on to something, anything. Riku skidded to a stop just as the dark pool dissolved.

"Kairi!" He remembered she was still there and raced for the secret spot. He fought his way through the dark creatures as he went. When he reached the tunnel they stopped following him. He ran in to see Kairi standing there.

"Riku, where's Sora?" She asked as Riku came in. She was holding something in her hand, tightly.

Riku sat down on the rock with a weird face draw on it to catch his breath. When he caught his breath and decided on where to begin he spoke. "He-" That was all he was able to say before the door burst open, blasting both of them out of the cave.

Riku hit the ground hard. He sat up and noticed he was on a tiny piece of the island, floating in the air. There was a tree and a boat mostly buried in the ground were the only things on the islet. He looked around for Kairi but instead spotted a big dark creature with a hole in it's chest shaped like a heart. "A bigger one!?" He thought aloud as he stared up at the thing. It seemed to shift, ready to fight. "Fine then," Riku got up, holding tightly to the grip of the blade he was using, "bring it on!"

The thing seemed to accept his challenge because it slammed it's hand into the ground. Riku jumped back and slashed at it's hand. He noticed smaller creatures coming out of the dark portal the big thing made when it pounded it's fist into the ground. He turned his attention to them for a moment but went back to attacking the big one. It stood back up and he finished off the rest of the little shadows that were still around. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a dark ball flying towards him. He turned to block it but was a little to slow. It blasted him back onto the ground. He quickly got back to his feet and slashed at another dark ball that was coming at him. The thing pounded it's fist into the ground again. Riku ran over, up it's arm and attacked it's head. He attacked it's head until it started standing up, then he jumped to the ground. This time he was ready for the dark balls and destroyed them with little effort. He continued fighting it constantly changing his strategy as it changed it's strategy.

The thing stood there but started floating up to a big ball of darkness that hung in the sky. Riku felt himself lifting off the ground and tried to grab the nearest thing. He almost got it but was lifted completely off the ground right before he did.

Meanwhile, Donald and Goofy were in traverse town. Goofy looked up to see a star blink out. "Uh-oh. Another star just went out!"

"Then we better hurry and find Leon."

"Yeah, let's go."


	6. Stuborn kid

I just want to say that Cid will be more like Cid in ff7, and I have put in two people who should have been put in. Who you ask? You'll see.

* * *

"What the hell did ya bring him here for? This ain't no hotel, and I ain't no babysitter!" Someone snapped.

Riku woke up from the sudden outburst and opened his eyes. He was laying on a couch.

"What? Are you saying we should have left him there?" A second person asked.

Riku looked over at the people talking. There were three of them. The one who just spoke had his back to Riku. He had short, messy red hair, except in the back where it was long. The long hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail. He was wearing a suit.

"Like hell I am! Why didn't ya take him to Leon?"

Riku looked at this man. He was the one who woke him up. He had blond hair and was smoking.

"We don't know where he is." The red haired man said.

Riku looked at the third person, who also had his back to Riku. He was bald and had dark skin. He wore the same suit as the red head. From the angle Riku could tell he was wearing glasses and figured he was wearing sunglasses. He soon realized he was in a store. There was a counter the blond haired man stood behind, and a display of gems between Riku and the two men in suits. Riku sat up trying to figure out where he was and how he got there.

The blond haired man noticed Riku was awake when he sat up. "Hey, the kid's awake."

The other two turned to look at Riku. "Looks like it,"The red haired guy agreed.

"Hey, kid, what happened to ya?" The blond asked.

"My name's Riku," he stated.

"Well then, Riku, I'm Cid. This here is Tweedledee," he pointed to the bald guy, "and Tweedledum," he pointed to the red haired guy.

The red haired guy seemed surprised and shocked Cid said this then turned to Riku. "Actually, my name's Rino, that's Rude," he pointed at the bald dude who nodded slightly.

"Where am I?"

"Travers Town," Cid said.

"Traverse Town... Is this another world?"

"Yep. Where ya from?"

"Destiny islands, but how did I end up here? Was it because of those black creatures?"

"Black creatures? Do you mean heartless?" Rino asked.

"So those were heartless?" He thought about something then realized something. "I need to find Sora and Kairi!" Riku got up and walked towards the door.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You can't just charge out there! Outside the first district the heartless are running around!" Rino exclaimed.

"Then I'll fight them!" Riku exited the shop and left Rino standing there with his mouth open, about to say something. He looked around the first district, taking in the sight. He noticed a big door to the left and walked over to it. "This must lead to another district," Riku mumbled. He tried to open the door but it was locked. He looked at the door, then walked away, looking for another way to go. He found another big door and this time it wasn't locked.

He stepped through the door and heard someone scream. He ran over to the edge of the raised walkway and looked down. There was a man running away from something. He fell and turned, looking at the direction he came from in horror. A heart seemed to float out of the man and turned into what looked like a soldier. Riku looked at the creature then turned to look at the mans body, but it was gone. He turned around to see more heartless appear around him. He got in his stance when he realized he had a blade in his hand. He got rid of the heartless then looked at the blade. It didn't really look like a blade, more like a giant key. The word '_keyblade_' stood out in his mind.

"Guess we didn't have to worry about you," someone said from behind Riku. Riku turned to see Rino standing there with what looked like a metal stick in his hand. Rude stood behind him.

"I can take care of myself,"Riku said then started to walk away.

"Hey, is that how you thank someone who's trying to help you?" Rino asked following Riku.

"Thanks but I don't need help from Tweedledee and Tweedledum."

Rino looked at him, shocked but shook it off. "Your friends might be on another world."

"They might be on this world."

"So you're going to search the whole world, including the third district where it's swarming with heartless, just to find out if your friends are here?"

"Yeah."

"They most likely ended up on another world, though."

"Then I'll look until I find them."

Rino looked at Rude with a can-you-believe-this-kid look. They reached the bottom and were surrounded by heartless. The three of them got ready to fight. The heartless started to attack and Riku was ready. He cleared an area then turned to see how Rude and Rino were doing. Rino yelled and charged towards on of the shadow heartless. It went 2-d and Rino stumbled past it. It turned 3-d again and jumped up to attack Rino. The heartless was just about to get Rino but Rude got in the way and destroyed the heartless.

"That was the last one," Rino said then looked around. He noticed something, or someone was missing. "Where did Riku go?"He asked Rude. Rude looked around then they looked at each other and started searching.

Meanwhile, Riku made it t the third district. He looked around not seeing much.

"What where those two so scared of? There's no heartless here," he said. He checked the whole district then started heading back. He was almost through the second district.

"Riku!"

Riku turned to see Rino run up to him. "Hey, have fun with the heartless?"

"Very...funny,"Rino said breathless.

"Where's Tweedledee?"

"Rude not Tweedledee," Rino looked behind him then looked around. "That's a good question," Rino said. He turned back to see Riku was gone, again. Rude showed up and looked at Rino who was just staring at where Riku was. "Can we put a tracker on this kid?" He asked and started heading for the first district wearily.

Riku got back to the shop Cid was at.

"Did ya find them?"

"No, I'm trying to lose Rino and Rude."

"I mean your friends."

"No."

"Well check around one more time. Ya never know."

"Yeah," Riku nodded and left. He took a couple of steps and several heartless popped up. He was taken off guard. They jumped into the air and Riku closed his eyes, guarding his face with his arms. He heard someone running then slash at something. He looked to see a brown haired man standing in front of him with a large blade in his hand. He tuned to look at Riku.

"Why does a kid like you have the keyblade?"

Riku pulled out his blade and attacked a heartless that appeared behind the guy. The guy got ready to fight.

"I guess we'll have to worry about that later."

They started to fight the heartless but the more the beat the more showed up. At a point Riku saw something white move into the shadows but didn't have enough time to see what it was.

"No use, they keep coming," Riku said.

"Then we have to go for the leader. It's in the third district. Let's go!"


	7. Upwards fall

This one is short but trust me You'll probably want to read it. I almost forgot about this chapter.

* * *

Sora woke up and blinked a couple of times, trying to remember what happened. Once he remembered he shot up to his feet and looked around. His eyes skimmed past the waterfall that surrounded the area but locked on to the when he realized the water was not falling, It was rising. He took a couple of steps away from the nearest part of the waterfall wondering if he was dreaming. He took one to many steps and fell off the white ice like land he was standing on. He fell towards the water but instead of falling in, he landed on it. "What's going on?" 

He limbed back on the the spot he started at and looked to see more white ice like rocks that were floating in the air. He saw a castle in the distance and started climbing the rocks to get closer. "Maybe there's someone there that can help me."

He go to the top of the white rocks and looked to see how far the castle was now. It was still quite far away. A lift came over from the castle and Sora was suddenly in it. He looked back as the lift moved towards the castle. 'I didn't move...So..How did I get on the lift?' He wondered. He stared at the castle as he got closer. It did not look like a normal castle. Several of the towers seemed to twist and bend in strange directions. It didn't look like it was finished either. There was a weird feel to the place. The lift stopped and Sora appeared in front of the castle. He started walking forward but something black to his right caught his attention. He turned to look but it slipped behind the wall. He went over curious of what it was. He looked around the corner. Nothing was there but a lift and a glowing mechanism. He realized the same kind of mechanism was at the spot were the other lift picked him up and dropped him off. He decided to leave the lift there and go inside. He opened the door and the first thing he noticed was how big it was. It was a round room that had an upper path that went halfway round the room then even higher there was another path that went around the room with a circular object in the middle. Across the room was a closed door and another door on the upper path to the left. He couldn't tell what was on the highest path from the angle. He walked across the room, up the steps and over to the closed door. There was no doorknob so he didn't know how to open it. It reminded him of the door in the secret spot on the island. He through the other door and realized it was a library.

He looked at all the books and walked through the path they made to the stairs. He looked a the table that was under the stairs. He looked at it as he went to the bottom of the stairs until it was out of view. There was just something about it. He went up the stairs and was another table. He sat down in one of the chairs and sighed. "This place seems deserted... Now what am I supposed to do? I need to find Riku and Kairi," he thought out loud.

"Are you lost?"

Sora jumped up an looked at who said that. There was a tall woman with greenish skin. She was holding on to a long staff that had a green orb at the top. She was wearing a black and purple cape that hit the ground and a hat that hid all her hair and had two long horns coming off of it.

"Who are you?" Sora asked.

"My name is Maleficent."


	8. Heartless? Not so tough

Yay another chapter up! I like this one. It took forever to write though. Read this one! It's got a lot of silly/random things. Well, not a lot I do't know how muh a lot is but it's good!

Cami: Let the readers read the story... chapter

Right. I hope you like it!

* * *

Riku and the guy ran through the first district, slashing their way through heartless to get to the second district. They barely got through the door when someone yelled, "SQUAAAAALL!!!"

Riku looked up to see a person standing on the roof of a nearby building. She had short hair black and a giant shuriken in her hand. She was wearing shorts and a green shirt that showed her stomach. She jumped up and down, waving her arms around. Her foot slipped and she slide down the roof. She bounced off an awning and landed on the ground with a thud.

The guy stopped and looked at her. "Leon. Call me Leon."

"Right, right." She looked past Leon and noticed Riku walk up. "Who's that?"

Leon turned and looked at Riku. "The keyblade bearer."

"Really?"

Heartless popped up, surrounding the three. They were cornered. "No time to talk." Leon pulled out his blade. Before either side got the chance to move a path was cleared through the heartless. Standing in the path was Rino.

"Hey. We got these guys. You go get their leader," Rino said to Riku.

"Right," Riku ran past as Rino cleared more of he heartless. The shadows went 2-D right when Rino tried to attack them.

"Stop doing that!" Rino started stomping on the shadows trying to hurt them, or at least make himself feel better.

Riku ran off for the third district.

The Girl caught up to him. "So you're the keyblade bearer, huh? I'm Yuffie!"

"I'm Riku."

"Yuffie, stop talking and help!" Leon yelled. He was in the back fighting heartless. Yuffie turned and started helping Leon.

"Hey Riku we-" Yuffie turned and realized Riku was gone.

Riku was in the third district. He walked down the steps, into the open area of the third district. He caught his breath while thinking about having a keyblade. He walked into the center of the area. 'There's still nothing here.' There was a squawking sound. Riku looked around and realized it was coming from above. He looked up to see two people falling from the sky. He rolled out of the way just before they landed on him. The larger of the two hit the ground first. Then the smaller one landed on him.

"Gawrsh, Donald, I don't think that was the right spell."

"Shut up."

Riku was crouched on the ground next to them with his keyblade out. Riku noticed that heartless were starting to show up all around them.

The other two didn't notice yet. They were staring at the keyblade. "The key!"

Riku jumped to the side avoiding a heartless.

Donald squawked again and Goofy got up. Donald rolled onto the ground but quickly got to his feet. "Let's get 'em!"

Riku was already slashing his way through heartless. After almost all of them were gone the rest disappeared.

A big armor heartless fell from the sky. It's arms spun around it's body taunting the fighters. Riku wasn't expecting this. The armor stepped forward so Riku was in the way of the arms. He was hit in the side and was sent flying backwards. He held his side as he tried to get up. The armor was coming over to him.

It tried to stomp on him but was blocked by Goofy. Donald quickly healed Riku.

Riku got up looking at the two then turned his attention back to the armor.

Piece by piece the armor was defeated. The torso and helmet were left. It spun around furiously, not letting Riku get close enough to hit it.

"I can't get near it!" Riku complained.

"Don't worry. We're here to help!" Goofy said. He put his shield up to the armor trying to stop it. It spun away but came to a stop.

Riku took this chance and got in as many hits as he could. He jumped away from it to catch his breath.

The armor rattled until the helmet fell into the neck of the torso. A heart flew out of the armor and drifted away in to the dark, night sky.

"Heartless, huh? They're not so tough," Riku commented.

"Riku!" Yuffie yelled from the railing. Leon pulled her down on to the ground. "Hey!" Yuffie ran down since she couldn't stand on the railing. "Did you take out that BIIG heartless by yourself?" Yuffie waved her arms around to emphasize 'big'.

"Well, not all by my self," Riku looked over at Donald and Goofy who were whispering to each other.

"Let my guess. The king sent you?" Leon asked Donald.

"Yeah, we were sent to find the key," Goofy said.

"You mean this thing?" Riku asked holding up the keyblade.

"Yep, that's the one," Goofy nodded.

Rino and Rude came into the third district unnoticed by the others.

"I'm Donald Duck."

"Name's Goofy."

"I'm Riku," he started walking off.

Donald jumped in surprise. "HEY! Where are you going!?"

"I'm going to look for my friends."

"WHA! But you need to come with us. Without the key-"

"I'm going to look for my friends," Riku stated. Riku turned the corner to go up the stairs and disappeared from Leon's and the others' sight. He stopped and looked t Rino and Rude who were blocking the way.

"Come on Riku. Cut those two some slack. They didn't know a disrespecting, disappearing kid would get the keyblade. Besides they can take you to other worlds to find your friends," Rino explained.

Riku stared at Rino without saying a word. The description Rino gave of him made him sound like a spoiled rotten five year old who was given too much sugar, at least in his mind.

"Unless you want to stick with us, which I wouldn't blame you," Rino continued to ramble.

Riku turned away from Rino when he said 'stick with us,' and walked back towards the others.

"That's exactly what I mean by disrespecting! I was talking!" Rino said to Rude when he realize Riku was gone, again.

"You know, maybe I will go with you guys," Riku said to Donald.

"Really?" Donald asked a little not sure if he was telling the truth.

"As long as you help me find my friends," Riku explained.

Leon and Yuffie disappeared looking for the cause of what sounded like a one sided argument. The 'argument' was actually Rino complaining.

Donald was about to say something but got but off by Goofy. "You got you're self a deal, Riku!"

"Good then let's go," Riku Started walking off but was pulled back, almost falling to the ground, by Donald.

"Wait!" He yelled.

"Now what?" Riku asked catching his balance.

"Our ship runs on happy faces!"

"Yeah, ya gotta be funny, like us!" Goofy said Smiling.

Donald pushed Goofy to the side and continued."So loosen up! You're too serious!"

"That's something to hear, coming from a grumpy duck," Riku said looking in a different direction.

"WHAT!?" Donald squawked.

Riku turned and looked at Donald. "You heard me."

Donald was fuming, grumbling but it wasn't understandable.

"Calm down, Donald," Goofy said, but this only made Donald more furious.

Donald started jumping up and down, pounding his feet every time he landed and waving his arms. He started yelling but it still wasn't any clearer what he was saying.

Riku just started laughing.

"So, you've decided to go with them?" Rino asked. Him, Leon, Yuffie, and Rude were all standing there.

"Who are you?" Donald asked, still mad.

"Yeah. They're going to help me find my friends," Riku said. He ignored Donald's question and Rino seemed to do the same.

"Really? Hope you're not planning on disappearing on them."

"We'll see."

"You are a hand full. Well don't go getting your self killed. Oh! Here, catch," Rino tossed Riku a bag that seemed full of something.

"What's this?"

"Well, see you around," Rino said and walked towards the stairs. Rude nodded to Riku then followed Rino as he passed by.

Riku stared at them as they walked out of sight. He turned his attention to the bag not sure if he should open it.

"What is it?" Donald asked.

Riku opened it to see a bunch of munny in it, and a note sitting on top. The note read:_ Buy some potions and don't die. See you around. Rino_. "What's with that guy?" Riku asked himself.


	9. Follow the white rabbit

Sorry it took me so long to post this one. I had a bad case of writes block. I have a question for the reads that read these notes: Should I stick with SorexKairi, a RikuxKairi or something completely unexpected? I'm open to ideas. By the way read the discription of the keyblade, it's not like Sora's.

* * *

Riku was examining the keyblade on the gummy ship, because Donald wouldn't let him drive. It had a main part of the sword but one side had a jagged edge that started a little less then half way up, sloped up curved to look like a key then ended just short of the top. The metal on the grip was a bit rougher, but it made it easier to grip with his gloves. The grip and the blade were separated by a guard that curved around the grip slightly. At the end of the grip there was a chain hanging off that was a mouse like head.

"So...what does this thing do? What's so special about it?" Riku asked as he turned the keyblade.

"Supposedly, it can open any lock."

Riku jumped and looked around. It wasn't Donald's or Goofy's voice, and it came from nearby. "Who said that?"

"I did." A small person jumped out from behind him and bowed. "Jimminy cricket's the name."

"Hey," Riku said still surprised by him.

"Jimminy's gonna chronicle our journey." Goofy explained.

"Yep. Which reminds me, I need to write what's happened so far." He turned back in the direction he came from and jumped out of sight.

Riku sat there for a moment then turned his attention to Donald. "So, where are we going?"

"To another world." Donald replied.

"I get that, but what's the world like?"

"Who knows?"

"When will we get there?"

"When we get there." Donald sounded a little annoyed so Riku left it at that.

Riku looked at his keyblade again then made it disappear. "So...What are the heartless after?"

"Hearts." Donald stated.

"They go to worlds and devour hearts." Jimminy said from nowhere.

"Just the heart? What about the body?"

Goofy opened his mouth then closed I again. He thought for a moment before saying, "Gawrsh, uh, I don't know."

"We're here!" Donald announced. Goofy got off first followed by Donald, then Riku. They started falling but not very fast. It was almost like floating. Goofy seemed to be laying down on the air; Donald was floating upside down.

When they reached the ground Donald and Riku landed on their feet, but Goofy flipped from his laying position and landed on his stomach. Riku looked around the small round room then up at the tunnel they fell through. "Wh-" He started but was interrupted.

"I'm late! The Queen will have my head for sure!" A white rabbit yelled and ran down a hall that curved out of sight.

"Where do ya think he was going?" Goofy asked as he stood up.

"Let's find out," Riku started walking after the white rabbit.

"Wait!" Donald yelled.

Riku stopped in mid step, almost falling forward, then turned to look at Donald. "Why?"

"We can't meddle in other worlds!"

"I'm not meddling. I'm just... watching." Riku turned his back on Donald and ran down he hall. He went around the curve in the hall to see a big door close. He opened the door to see another, slightly smaller, door behind it. He opened that door to find yet another door that was slightly smaller then the last. He did this three more times before he opened the last door. He ducked through the door and found himself in a bazzar room. He heard a door close on the other side of the room and stood up to see over the table in the middle of the room. He saw a small door and walked around the table over to it. He crouched down to get a better look as Donald and Goofy entered the room. When Goofy saw the door he asked, "Did the rabbit go through there?"

"It's too small, unless he shrunk." Riku said.

"He used the bottles." The door said.

Donald squawked but Goofy and Riku seemed almost unfazed. "What bottles?" Riku asked.

"The bottled on the table." The door said trying to gesture towards the glass table.

Riku turned to see two bottles appear on the table. "Which one?"

"I bet it's this one." Goofy said, pointing at the bottle with a blue label.

"Aw, what do you know? It's this one." Donald picked up the one with a red label and, before Riku of Goofy could say anything, Donald took a drink of it. He picked the wrong one because instead of shrinking he got bigger. He was now about as tall as Riku but he was much bigger, which made it harder to move around.

"I told ya Donald." Goofy said.

Donald pulled out his staff and cast fire on Goofy. Goofy put his shield up just in time and was pushed back into the bed. He didn't fall on the bed though, the bed bed became part of the wall and a clock painted on the wall became 3-D.

"This is one bazzar room." Riku commented.

Goofy turned the clock around the examine the back of it. "Gawrsh."

"Come on, let's get going." Riku picked up the blue bottle and offered it to Donald. "You'll pobably have to take two drinks."

Donald grumbled under his breath and set the red bottle on the table. He turned to Riku and took the bottle from him. Donald took two drinks and became small.

Goofy picked up the bottle and took a drink, then Riku did the same. After Riku shrunk they walked up to the door. "Can we get through now?" Donald asked impatiently.

The door didn't answer, and there was a moment of silence. The silence was broken by the sound of someone snoring. Riku looked over his shoulder at Goofy then at Donald but they were both awake. He looked back at the door. "The door must be asleep?" Riku said not sure what to think of that. "Now how do we get through?"

"Ya know, I think I say a hole behind the clock when I moved it," he pointed at the clock that was still turned away from most of the room. "Maybe we can get through there."

"Let's check it out," Riku said already heading towards the clock. He skidded to a stop as several shadow heartless materialized from the ground. He pulled his keyblade out and several red bell shaped thing appeared in the air.

One of the flying things whirled around for a moment then shot a fire ball at Riku. Riku guarded with his keyblade and the fireball hit a shadow. The shadow disappeared.

Goofy yelled and started running around when a fire ball hit him.

"Stop moving!" Donald yelled trying to put the fire out. A nocturne came up behind Donald and shot him in the back. He turned and blasted the thing with a blizzard. Donald saw Riku go through the hole in the wall out of the corner of his eye. "Let's go, Goofy!" Donald commanded and ran after Riku.

"Wait for me!" Goofy yelled and followed.


	10. guilty

"You are guilty for attempted theft of my heart! Why? Because I said so that's why!" The queen yelled from the judge's stand.

"What? I haven't done anything!" Riku yelled from the accused stand.

"Oh no." Donald sighed from the back of the room.

"Is that considered meddling?" Goofy asked in a slight whisper.

"What do you think?"

"Do you have any proof you haven't done anything?" the Queen asked leaning over the stand.

"Do you have any proof I did?" Riku asked, showing he was not intimidated by her.

The Queen's face started turning red. "Very well, you gather as much or as little evidence as you like to prove you're innocent. Be quick!"

Donald and Goofy run up to Riku as he was walking off the stand. "How did ya get up there?"

"A couple of those card guys grabbed me and threw me up there," Riku explained and walked to a side exit. They walked through and found themselves in a forest. The whole forest was extremely big, even the grass was taller the Riku and Goofy.

"I should have known this would lead to trouble. You shouldn't have followed that rabbit!" Donald yelled pointing his finger at Riku.

"What's the point of going to other worlds when you can't do anything when you get there?" Riku mumbled. "Besides, I can't leave now. That Queen thinks I tried to steel her heart."

"And of course you didn't." A voice said from nowhere.

Riku jumped to attention and looked around trying to spot who was talking. It sounded like it was coming from nearby but there was no one but the three of them.

"I saw who the real criminal was. Those shadows, of course." A purple and pink cat appeared standing on his hind legs on top of a over grown stump. "They were here earlier, they might still be around."

"So, how do I prove I didn't do it?"

"There should be evidence here, and there. There are 5 clues in all. Find the clues you catch the suspects." The cat said and disappeared.

Riku turned to Donald and Goofy. "Let's find these clues." They started heading deeper into the forest. One of the clues they found with ease. The second one they saw but it took some work to get to.

"Got it!" Goofy called when he found the third clue.

Donald was standing near a hole that lead to another area. "Let's go! Riku's heading to the next area without us!"

Riku got into the new area and stared at the big table in the middle with a bunch of tea pots whistling and three people at the table. Two of them were singing and dancing around, pouring tea and just being crazy. The third person was a girl with blond hair just sitting there watching them.

"Have a very marry un-birthday to you," The hare sang.

"Un-birthday?" Riku mumbled to himself.

Donald and Goofy came stumbling in. Goofy tripped and crashed, landing on Donald. "Oops, sorry." Donald just sighed.

The three at the table looked over at them. "Who are you?" The man asked.

"I'm Riku. This is Sir Clumsy," pointing at Goofy as he got up, "and Mr.Yells-A-Lot," gesturing to Donald.

"Nice to meet you, I'm the mad hatter!" The man said then laughed.

"Are they okay?" The girl asked and went over to check on Donald and Goofy.

"Yup, I've never been better," Goofy said then laughed.

Donald just sighed. He crossed his arms and grumbled.

"That's good. Oh I'm Alice."

"Say! Why don't you join our tea party? There's plenty of room!" The mad hatter swung his arm towards all the empty seats to make a point.

"Huh, we'd love to but-" Donald started.

"That's great! Come, come, sit down!" The rabbit said grabbing Goofy and dragging him to the table.

"Yes, come sit down!" The mad hatter exclaimed. He grabbed Goofy and tried grabbing Riku but Riku ducked behind Alice and he grabbed her instead. As they all sat down at the table, Riku started to slip away into a corner. "So Sir Clumsy, how do you like your tea?"

Riku backed in to a box and stopped. He turned to see it was another clue. He picked up the box and looked over at Donald and Goofy. After a moment of watching Donald getting mad and Goofy enjoying himself, he left. 'One more clue to go.'

Donald turned to see Riku was gone and got even more annoyed. "He's gone again!" Donald yelled at Goofy, but Goofy as too busy talking to Alice.

Riku climbed up to the top of a tree and saw a opening to another area. He jumped across a couple of branches then walked through the opening. He found himself falling until he landed on a faucet head. He looked down to see he was in the bizarre room again. He spotted a clue on the cabinet next to him and got ready to jump. Riku began to jump when-

"Riku!" Donald's voice called.

This caught Riku off guard and he tried to stop but he was already in mid jump. He grabbed on to the edge of the cabinet and sighed. He pulled himself up and started at the ceiling. "You've got to be kidding me." He said staring up at Donald who was staring back.

"Don't run off like that!" Donald shouted.

"How are you on the ceiling!?" Riku asked.

"How are we on the ceiling Donald?" Goofy asked.

"Don't change the subject! Get down here!"

"How? That's up for me and I'm not sure I can just jump and be up there. I've found the last clue so how about I meet you where the Queen is?" Riku said as he picked up the clue.

"Fine... BUT YOU BETTER NOT RUN OFF!" Donald warned and walked off.

Riku jumped down and when he landed a lot of Heartless appeared. 'Great,' he thought as he pulled his Keyblade out.

"How about I give you something to help you out?"

"You again?" Riku attacked several Heartless sending them flying backwards. "What do you have to help me?"

The cat materialized on top of the glass table. He laid there, his tail calmly swaying back and forth as he watched Riku fight. "A little spell for finding that clue." He gave Riku the ability to cast Blizzard. "Use it well," the cat said smiling the disappeared.

"This should help," Riku said and blasted one of the Shadows but it didn't seem to affect it much. "Or not..." A nocturne blasted a fire ball at him and he slashed at it, changing it's direction. He blasted another Blizzard but this time he hit a Red Nocturne. The spell seemed a little more effective and destroyed the Heartless. 'Maybe I just need to use it a bit before it's really effective.'

He slashed, hacked, and blasted a path through the creatures. Several Nocturnes shot fireballs at him and several Shadows lunged for him. He guarded against the fire balls and deflected them towards the Shadows. The Shadows dissolved leaving a clear shot to hit the Nocturnes. He shot a Blizzard at three of the four remaining Nocturnes. He was about to blast the final one but he was out of magic.

The Red Nocturne shot a fire ball at him and he rolled out of the way. Before it got the chance to even get ready he jumped, slashed through the Heartless with ease and landed back on the ground. The Nocturne burst and the pieces faded away. Riku turned around slightly breathless and walked towards the Queens trial.


	11. there goes Alice

He walked through the doorway to see an impatient Donald standing there. Donald had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot. "What took you so long!?" he demanded.

"I was attacked by some Heartless," Riku said after he caught his breath. He walked over to where the Queen was and said, "I brought all my evidence."

"Finally, it took you long enough!"

Riku set the boxes down in a row and the Queen added her evidence. The cards picked up the boxes to give to the queen but she made them put them back.

"I'm not checking all these boxes! Pick one!"

"After all that trouble!?" Riku sighed and looked at the boxes. 'Did they put them back in the same order? Well... let's see how good my luck is,' he thought and looked at the boxes. He opened the third on from the left and an image of Alice popped up. 'What?!... That must be the one I picked up from the tea party... Great!'

"Hey, isn't that Alice? How di-" Goofy started but Donald elbowed him in the side.

"Alice? So that's the real criminal? Guards, find her!" The Queen ordered.

"Donald, Goofy, let's go!" Riku said and ran into the forest.

Donald and Goofy followed Riku as quickly as they could. "Wait! I don't think she's at the tea party any-"

"EEEKKK!"

Riku stopped and looked to see Alice disappear into what looked like a portal of darkness. "Alice!" Riku ran over to her, trying to get to her before she disappeared but he was too late. Alice was out of sight and the portal dissolved as Riku fell to the ground from leaning out too far. "What was that?"

"It looked like darkness. Gawrsh, do you think the Heartless got her?" goofy asked.

"Poor Alice, but the criminal is not gone yet," The cat said materializing behind the group.

"Where are the Heartless?" Riku asked as he got to his feet.

"In the bizarre room, but hurry before they get away with Alice."

"Got it." Riku nodded and ran for the bizarre room. He zipped past the guard cards, several spinning from the impact, and a couple got knocked over. Before they could yell at him or get back up, he was gone. He got to the bizarre room and looked around.

"It might be easier if you looked from a higher spot," the cat said already sitting on the table.

Donald and Goofy caught up as Riku walked over to the chair. They followed him as he walked over to where the cat was, but it was already gone. They looked around but there were no Heartless. "I don't see anything," Donald stated.

"Look up," Riku said, staring at a big heartless hanging from the ceiling. It jumped down, landing on it's hands, staring at Riku. Then it sprung up and landed on it's feet on the other side of the table.

"Let's get it!" Donald yelled and charged at the Heartless. Goofy followed Donald with his shield out in front of him. They jumped off the edge of the table and started attacking the thing's legs. Their attacks weren't doing anything. The Trickster smacked them with it's unlit torches.

Riku went over to the edge near where the Trickster was and shot a Blizzard at it. It stiffened up then fell to it's knees. Riku jumped down and slashed at it as he past it's head. "Attack it when it's down!"

They all hit it as much as they could. Donald occasionally used spells while Goofy and Riku just hit the thing. After they beat it for less then a minute it got up and started walking around the table. Riku jumped back up on to the table to hit it down again but it slammed both of it's torches on to the table making it disappear in to the floor. Riku landed on the ground and glared up at the Heartless. He jumped up onto the chair and shot a Blizzard at it as it was walking over to the stove.

It tensed up then fell to it's knees again. Instantly Donald and Goofy started attacking it again. Riku went over and helped. Donald cast Fire and accidentally lit one of the torches. Riku put it out with a Blizzard and looked at Donald. Riku and Donald both cast Blizzard on the Trickster and that seem to do it. They watched as a heart flew out of it.

"What's with all that racket?" The door knob asked. Riku looked over at it. "I'm trying to sleep," it said yawning. A simple keyhole shape glowed inside the darkness on the inside the doorknobs key hole. Riku started at it then his Keyblade snapped to attention pointing at the glowing keyhole. A beam of light came from the end of the Keyblade and connected with the keyhole. There was a sound of a lock clicking shut then the bean of light disappeared. "...What was that?" Riku asked looking at Donald.

A little piece of something came out of the keyhole and fell to the ground. "Is that a gummi block?" Goofy asked as Riku picked it up.

"Sure looks like it. What's it do?" Riku asked.

"It's a navi-G piece." A voice said from behind Riku. All three of them jumped and Riku looked to see Rino leaning over him to see the piece.

"When did you get here!?" Riku half demanded.

"Just got here. I was going to see if you needed any help but then I realized I'd probably never find you. Seems like you've been busy." Rino said.

"You seem to know Riku but I'm not sure I know ya," Goofy said scratching his head.

"I'm Rino, the one Riku always ditches, and that's Rude," Rino pointed to Rude who was a few yards away. "Guess I don't have to worry about you," Rino said then turned away and mumbled, "For now." He turned back to look at Riku. "Guess I'll been going. See you around," he waved to them then turned and walked off. Rude nodded to Riku then followed suit. "Oh!" Rino stopped suddenly and Rude stopped almost at the exact same time. "If you wan to install that navi-G piece then talk to Cid," Rino continued to walk away.

"Talk to Cid, huh?" Riku put the navi-G piece in his pocket. "Let's go to the next world."


	12. next time, I'll drive

"Oops, I forgot to give ya this, Riku," Goofy said. He gave Riku the ability to cast fire. "I forgot about that."

"Thanks," Riku said. He sighed and sat back in his chair."Will you ever let me drive?" Riku asked as he looked at his new Keyblade. It defiantly made him thing of Wonderland. The key chain was the Cheshire cat's head, with that big, creepy grin of his. There was a guard around the handle shaped like a spade and the end of the handle made the bottom of the spade. The end of the Keyblade was topped by a club and a heart stuck out of the side.

"No," Donald said flatly.

"Fine...what is there to do?"

"Sit there and be quiet," Donald growled.

Riku sighed and leaned back in his seat. 'I can be patient but he's impossible to work with!' Riku thought. He looked out the window and noticed there were other ships around them. "Donald-"

"I told you be quiet."

"Th-"

"Quiet!"Donald yelled. The ship shook throwing everyone for a loop "What was that?!"

"Heartless ships I'm guessing," Riku stated. The ship shook again. "How many hits can this thing take?"

"Just hang on! We're almost to the world!" Donald yelled. The ship shook again but it jolted a bit more then the other times. The ship started falling towards the world. Donald tried to support himself against the controls and accidentally hit the eject button. Riku was shot out of the ship and landed on the ground hard. "Gyaa! Oh, that hurt. At this rate I'll be dead before I even get a clue of where to find Sora and Kairi." He rolled off his back and on to his side. "That's it, I'm driving next time." Riku got up and looked around. He was in a green area a sturdy trunk came up from a lower area and several holes for ways that he could go.

"Is that who I think it is?" A familiar voice called from the hole in the leaves that lead down.

"I think it is," Riku said in an almost monotone voice.

Rino emerged from the hole climbing up the tree trunk like a monkey. He jumped off the trunk and landed in front of Riku. "You don't seem happy to see me... what?"

Riku was staring at Rino like he just flew over to him. "Are you half monkey? Or gorilla?"

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Rino said sounding offended.

"You climbed up here so fast you looked like a monkey. You belong in a jungle."

"I'm not part monkey, I'm a Turk! I've had years of training-" Rino said defensively and frustrated.

"Just wondering but are you stalking me?" Riku asked not even caring that Rino was still talking.

"Why would I stalk you? Wait, did you ditch those other two you were with?" Rino looked around for Donald and Goofy but didn't see them.

"I was ejected from the gummi ship by accident. What about you? Where's the rude guy?" Riku asked.

"His name is Rude but that doesn't mean he is rude. He's not here."

"I'm not sure I've heard him talk, now that I think about it."

"He doesn't usually talk much. By the way, do you need help finding those other two you were traveling with?"

"That depends, if I travel with you can I drive the gummi ship?"

"No, Rude drives."

"Then yeah, I could use some help finding them."

"Okay then we'll start at the tree house and work our way from there, but I'll have to leave sooner or later."

"Did Rude ditch you here and you have to go when he comes back?"

"He didn't ditch me but you got the basic idea," Rino started heading for one of the holes in the wall.

"Hey, Donald, do ya think Riku will be okay?"

"Who knows?" Donald said. They heard a roar and gulped. "What was that?"

"An animal of some kind?" Goofy said.

A leopard jumped out at them and roared. Donald jumped and clinged to Goofy. It was about to attack them when a man got in the way and caught it's jaw with his spear. He threw the leopard and it ran off.

Riku and Rino came in through the door way and saw them standing with the man. "Donald, Goofy!" Riku called. The three looked over at him.

"Hey, Riku! You're alright." Goofy said and walked over to him. Donald reluctantly followed Goofy and didn't say anything to Riku.

"Who's he?" Riku asked. "Can he help find Sora and Kairi?"

"Gawrsh, maybe."

Riku walked over to the man and stood there for a moment. "Hi, I'm looking for my friends."

"Friends," the man repeated.

"Yeah, my friends Sora and Kairi," Riku said. The others walked over.

"Friends here."

"Really? Where!?" Riku asked surprised.

The man said something that sounded like grunts and "oohs".

Riku looked over his shoulder at Rino. "What did he say?"

"Why do you expect me to know!?"

"You're the one that's half monkey."

"I'm not half monkey!" Rino seemed annoyed and turned to the man. "Why don't you take us there?"

"Tarzan. Tarzan, go," The man said. They wandered out of the tree house and the man jumped down into the forest.

"Did he just jump down... off the tree house?" Riku asked.

"Yeah... well...we better follow him if you want to find your friends." Rino said. Rino ran and jumped down into the area Tarzan jumped screaming the whole way.

"Might as well," Riku shrugged and jumped down as well. When he landed he found himself in another leaf covered area. There was a big hollow trunk in the middle of the area. "Why are we here?"

Donald and Goofy came into view, screaming, then they disappeared into the hollow log. Tarzan went in after them and Riku watched as Tarzan lid down the branched the log lead to.

"Come on Rino," Riku called and jumped through the log.

Rino jumped and found his shoes had too much traction to slide like the others were. He started running after them yelling, "Wait up!"

Once they reached the end of the branches they found themselves in a camp. Donald and Goofy fell to the ground, Tarzan and Riku jumped over them, and Rino went to far and fell landing on top of Donald and Goofy.

Rino got up and brushed off his suit then looked at Donald and Goofy. "Sorry about that."

Goofy got up and Donald grumbled as he stood up. "Now where are we?"

"Is this where Sora and Kairi are?" Riku asked.

Tarzan turned and walked into the tent. The others followed not sure what was going on. "Jane." Tarzan said to the woman in the tent.

She turned around and looked at them. "Oh, hello there. Who are you?"

"Hi, I-"

"Oh, you speak English. Guess you're not related to Tarzan. He was raised by gorillas." Jane explained.

"Really?" Riku asked looking over at Rino.

Everyone introduced themselves to each other except for Rino who was interrupted by Riku who called him "Tarzan's long lost half brother". Then Riku explained to Jane about what was going on.


	13. shooting, yelling, and friends

"So you're looking for your friends, I see. Well-" She was cut short by the sound of a gun firing. "What was that? That better not be Clayton."

"I'll check it out," Riku declared as he ran out of the tent. He stopped to see Rude holding the barrel of another man's gun towards the sky. The other man seemed speechless.

Rude gave the man an unnerving stare.

"I'm so sorry, I thought you were a gorilla."

"He's not a gorilla and if you did shoot him then I can tell you that would have been a very bad thing on your part. You see, you mess with him you mess with me." Rino said as he came out of the tent.

Jane slipped out of the tent and stormed up to the man. "Mr. Clayton, what do you think you are doing! You'll scare away all the gorillas!" She continued to scold him for a while.

"Rino, let's go." Rude said while Jane was still yelling at Clayton.

"Right, I'm sure you can handle this," Rino said to Riku and walk into the bamboo forest.

Riku watched Rino walk away then sighed. He turned and stepped up to Jane and Clayton. "Sorry to interrupt but I'm still trying to find my friends."

"I haven't seen any other people except for everyone in this camp. I haven't seen your friends and I haven't seen any gorillas," Clayton said.

'Have you looked in the mirror? I'm sure you'd see a gorilla then,' Riku thought but didn't say anything.

"If your friends are here then they're probably with the gorillas, but Tarzan refuses to take us to them," Clayton said accusingly.

"He said they were here..." Riku mumbled looking at Tarzan.

"Then they must be with the gorillas. Maybe Tarzan will take us to them."

Riku looked at Clayton a little suspicious. "What do you mean 'us'?"

"We've been looking for the gorillas ever since we got here," Clayton explained.

"We came here to research the gorillas but haven't seen any sign of them," Jane added.

Riku continued to look at Clayton then turned away. "Donald, Goofy, let's go look for Sora and Kairi," Riku said and walked out of the camp. He saw several hippos in the water around the area then spotted a tree that seemed climbable. He gripped the vine and started heading up the tree.

"Riku, slow down!" Donald yelled as he scurried around to keep up. Riku got onto a sturdy branch and waited for Donald and Goofy. Donald jumped on to the branch followed by Goofy tripping and landing on the branch with his whole body. "Why did you leave like that?"

"I don't like that Clayton guy..."

"Why? He seemed okay," Goofy asked.

"He tried shooting Rude because he thought he was a gorilla. I don't know about you but I don't think that's 'research', I think that's hunting."

"Gawrsh, is Jane a part of that too?" Goofy asked.

"Probably not," Donald said crossing his arms.

"Should we-" Riku started as he turned to look around but stopped when he saw two gorillas staring at them. He stood there looking at them until the male one looked it a direction and walked away. Riku turned back and thought. 'Was he looking towards the tree house?' Riku went and climbed up the tree again. They were now in the spot he started in.

He ran towards the tree house and saw a bit of yellow, like Clayton's shirt. Donald and Goofy followed not sure why Riku was running. Riku ran up to see Clayton aiming his gun. "What are you doing!?" Riku demanded as he got closer. Clayton's gun pointed up from his surprise and shot. Riku looked to see a young gorilla run over to the two gorillas he saw earlier then they left.

"Uh, you don't understand... a snake went by, I was trying to shoot the snake. You see, I saved that poor gorilla's life," Clayton said in defense.

Riku looked at him unconvinced. Donald stood next to him and said, "Wait 'til Jane hears about this!" Clayton gave a small awkward laugh then sighed.

Riku and the others brought him back to the camp and explained what happened to Jane. Jane was furious. "How could you do such a thing!?" She yelled at him.

Riku, not wanting to listen to the yelling, walked out of the tent and sat down on one of the many boxes. Tarzan walked over to him on all fours and looked at him. "Where are Sora and Kairi?"

"Sora, friend?"

"Yeah."

"Kairi, friend?"

"Yeah, where are they? Where are my friends?"

Tarzan made the grunting sound he made earlier then said, "Friends, here."

"I don't know what you're saying," Riku sighed. "They're 'here' but I don't know where 'here' is."

Tarzan wandered off and Goofy and Donald came out of the tent. "Ya feelin' okay, Riku?"

"They're here and I can't find them..." Riku said glumly.

"Come on, cheer up!" Goofy said.

"Cheer up?..." Riku was silent after that for a bit, staring at the ground. He grinned slightly and looked up at Donald and Goofy. "Do you think I can drive the gummi ship? Maybe we won't be shot down by Heartless if I drive."

"No! I told you before, you can't drive!" Donald snapped.

"Aw. Come on Donald, give him a chance," Goofy said trying to persuade Donald.

"Yeah, come on. If I'm driving then I won't be bothering you because there's nothing to do. Unless you want me to keep bothering you then-"

"Fine," Donald grumbled.

"What?" Riku asked just to hear him say it again.

"Fine! You can drive the gummi ship!" Donald said loud and clear.

Just then, Clayton came out of the tent mumbling to himself. Riku gestured to go back into the tent and they did. "Done yelling at him?" Riku asked.

"Yes, for now... Now about your friends. May-" Jane stopped once more at the sound of a gun firing.

Riku and the others ran out but Clayton wasn't around. "I think he went that way," Riku pointed at the bamboo jungle and they went in.


	14. Heart

They ran to a rock and Clayton's pipe was sitting on it. "Guess he was here," Riku said picking it up. They heard a growl come from the bamboo and looked around.

"Sabor!" Tarzan said and got ready to attack. A leopard jumped out of the bamboo growling at them.

"Let's finish him off quick and find Clayton!" Riku said and pulled out his keyblade.

They charged at Sabor but he jumped back into the bamboo. They waited for it to come out.

"We're like sitting ducks," Riku noted

Donald growled, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"No offense, sorry,"Riku said looking for Sabor.

Sabor jumped out and tried to attack Riku but he blocked. Tarzan and Goofy attacked instantly but it took Donald a second to react. Riku threw Sabor off of him and shot a Blizzard at him. This stunned him long enough for the others to get to him and attack him wildly. Sabor slashed the group of them away and jumped once more into the bamboo and out of sight.

Donald took this chance to heal everyone. Goofy, Riku , and Tarzan stood in the center with their backs to each other. They waited to see the leopard. Sabor jumped out trying to attack Donald, but Tarzan got to Sabor first. Tarzan threw Sabor to the center of the clearing and Riku hit it with another Blizzard. Sabor roared into the air then collapsed to the ground.

"Come on, let's find Clayton," Riku said, heading deeper into the bamboo jungle. Donald and Goofy followed but Tarzan stayed behind, looking at Sabor. He ran into an area that was no longer a bamboo jungle and saw Clayton pointing a gun at the young gorilla from earlier. "Clayton!" Riku yelled.

Clayton turned his attention and pointed his gun up. The gorilla ran past Riku and the others as Riku watched Clayton. Suddenly the wall behind Clayton burst and he seemed to start floating in the air.

"He's flyin!" Goofy exclaimed in shock.

"No. He's sitting on something," Riku ran up and started attacking the air. He seemed to be hitting something so Donald and Goofy helped. Riku jumped back and blasted the thing with a Blizzard. Donald also used a Blizzard at the same time and the thing became visible. Clayton was thrown off and Goofy started to attack him while Riku and Donald attacked the chameleon Heartless. The Heartless kept moving so Riku would have to run up and attack it while Donald cast magic on it.

Clayton managed to knock Goofy out and was aiming his gun for Riku. Riku noticed out of the corner of his eye but couldn't do anything to avoid it. Tarzan ran over and started wrestling Clayton for the gun. Riku sighed in relief but got hit by the chameleon, knocking him to the ground. Donald hit the lizard with another Blizzard which caused it to fall backwards. Tarzan tossed Clayton towards the middle of the area and Riku got ready to attack him. Clayton loaded his gun and Riku watched as the Heartless got back up, towering over Clayton. Riku took a couple of steps back to get out of it's way, just in case it fell towards him. Clayton noticed it's shadow and turned around just in time to see the large Heartless fall onto him. They all looked at the scene for a moment.

Riku walked over to the ledge that was now visible since the wall was gone. The big male gorilla from earlier came over and tossed Riku up to the higher ground. Then he tossed Donald and Goofy up and Tarzan climbed up. Riku walked into the cave that was to their side, behind the waterfall and worked his way through the upward maze. He stopped every once and a while because Donald or Goofy would fall back to the bottom. They got to a big opening that went further back.

"This must be where Sora and Kairi are," Riku said quietly. His stomach twisted a little, warning him but he went in anyway. There was a tree covered by blue butterflies in the middle of the room. Riku could hear the water fall from the room. Riku looked from side to side then looked back at the tree. "I don't see Sora or Kairi," he said losing hope a little.

"You can still hear the waterfall in here," Jane commented.

Tarzan said that one thing in gorilla again then said, "Friends, here."

Riku was about to say something but Jane spoke first. "I get it. What he's saying is heart. Our friends are always in our heart."

"Heart," Tarzan repeated.

"Yeah, I guess..." Riku said looking at the butterflies. The butterflies flew away to reveal the out line of a keyhole. Riku pulled out his Keyblade and pointed it at the keyhole. A beam of light connected them until they heard a click and the light was gone. A navi-G piece fell from the keyhole and Riku picked it up. He looked at it then clenched his fist. "I'll find them, sooner or later," Riku said and looked at Donald and Goofy.

"That's the spirit!" Donald encouraged.

"Don't worry, we'll help ya find them. We'll look everywhere for them!" Goofy added.

"Yeah," Riku said. They started walking out of the cave and at a point they parted ways with Tarzan and Jane. Riku was walking ahead of Donald and Goofy.

"Gawsh, I hope he finds his friends," Goofy said to Donald.

"I hope we find the king," Donald stated.

The three of them got onto the gummi ship and Donald sat down in the drivers seat. "Let's go!"

"Hey, Donald, aren't ya forgetting something?" Goofy asked.

"What?" Donald asked. He turned to see Riku leaning on the chair.

"I'm supposed to drive?" Riku reminded him.

"You don't know how to drive a gummi ship!" Donald protested.

"Then teach me," Riku replied calmly.

Donald opened his mouth then closed it, thinking. "Fine," Donald sighed. He got up and stepped aside. Riku smiled and sat down in the drivers seat.


	15. I will enter

This chapter was hard to wright because I had a lot of different ideas for it but I finally decided what I was going to do. And I think the next chapter is one of my best so far.

* * *

Riku landed the ship on the next planet and they got off. "So how's my driving?" Riku asked as he walked through two really big doors.

"Humph," Donald crossed his arms and refused to talk.

"You did great! You learned the controls quickly and ya kept those Heartless off our tail," Goofy said then laughed. Goofy stopped and looked up at two big statues of warriors crossing their swords over a door. "Those are some big statues."

Donald and Riku stopped and looked up at them. "Heh, you're right. Let's check this place out." They walked in to see a short person standing on a pedestal writing on a chalk board.

"Good timing! Do ya think you could move that over there?" He pointed to the large square rock that was at the side. "Gotta get ready for the games." Riku stared at the pedestal then looked back at the guy. He didn't turn to look at him once.

"What games?" Riku asked not sure why he should move the rock.

"What!? 'What games?'! You should know-" He turned around and looked at Riku. "Oh, wrong guy. Get out of here kid, you'll just get in the way."

"Hey I want to know what the games are," Riku demanded.

"It's a competition for heroes. They come from all over just to enter in this competition, and you are no hero!" He turned back to the chalk board and continued writing.

"How would you know? You don't look like a hero to me."

"I train heroes!" He turned and looked at Riku again. "I'll tell ya what, if you can move that rock then I'll think about letting you enter the games," he pointed to the rock then turned around.

Riku walked over to the rock and looked at it for a moment. 'Might as well give it a try,' Riku thought. He braced his legs and tried pushing it. He started by having his hands on it, using his legs to push, but it didn't move. Then he tried putting his shoulder against it and using most of his body to try and move it. When he got to tired to try he backed up and stared at it.

"Any luck?" Phil asked.

"Not really... Well, at least Rino hasn't shown up yet."

"Rino? Does he have red hair, travels with a bald man?" Phil asked.

"Yeah..." Riku started at Phil.

"They were here earlier. Some how they got tickets to enter the game."

"Well if they got into the game then I'm getting in to!" Riku decided.

"Well, you sure are determined, I'll give you that," someone said as he walked in.

"Herc! Hey there you are."

"So you want to get into the games, huh?"

"Yeah, but he won't let me," Riku said looking over at Phil.

"Come on Phil, give him a chance."

"No way!"

"Why not?" Riku asked.

"Three words: you guys, ain't heroes!"

"That's four words," Riku corrected. "Give me a chance. You don't know what I can do!"

"His determination reminds me of someone. Come on Phil, stop being such a stubborn old goat," Hercules said.

Phil stood there looking at them with his arms crossed, standing up straight, looking very stern. He sighed and slouched slightly. "Fine, you can join the games."

"Great, so when does it start?"

"Not so fast! You have to get through the qualification rounds first. Even these rounds are tough."

"Okay, that doesn't sound too tough," Riku looked over to Donald and Goofy to see if they were ready. They nodded and Riku looked back at Phil. "Let's start."

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn ya."

They all walked into the arena with large stands on either side and Phil pointed to the square battle field in the center of the arena. He walked over and stepped up on to the slightly raised field. Donald and Goofy stood behind him and pulled their weapons out. Riku checked to see if they were ready then pulled his Keyblade out and took his stance.

Several shadows and a couple soldiers popped up and the first round began. The first two rounds were easy but the third round was a little tough. The forth round took a bit of effort and after that they took a break before their last fight.

"That last one was tough," Riku said as he sat down.

"That was tough?! You may have made it this far but if that was tough then you might not last through your next fight!" Phil said.

"Two fat bodies and several soldiers. What could be worse?" Riku asked. He looked up to see a blond haired person pass by. They watched each other until the blond disappeared through the doorway.

"Him," Phil stated. "He's taken down all his competition with ease so far, and he's your next opponent."

"What? Great," Riku sighed and drooped his head.

"Well, if it isn't Riku," Rino said as he walked over.

"You're following me aren't you?" Riku asked not looking up.

"You got a good beating in that last fight, even though you won. If you fight like that again then you probably will lose," Rino stated.

"Thanks for the loads of confidence," Riku stated flatly.

"Hey, don't get me wrong, I want you to win. That's why I brought you these," Rino said.

"More potions?" Riku asked.

"No, better!" Rino said. He gave Riku the ability to use cure and thunder. "Well, that's all I was here for. Maybe I'll get to fight you in the tournament."

"I would beat you," Riku said confidently.

"We'll see about that. Anyway, gotta get going. Head to Cid's shop when you get back to traverse town," Rino said. He started walking away but wave to Riku. He was about to turn around but he ran into Rude. Rino fell to the ground and Rude stared at him. Rino got up and brushed himself off. He walked past Rude and out of the arena.

Rude walked over to Riku and gave him two elixirs and five ethers. "Good luck out there," He said then left.

Riku was left standing there in shock for a moment.


	16. one on one

This took me a little longer to write then I thought it would but that gave me more time to get it right. I'm proud of this chapter!

* * *

"So you guys ready for your next match?" Phil asked.

Riku checked all his item and magi one last time then looked at Phil. "Ready," he ran over and jumped into the battle field.

Cloud stood at the other end of the field. He swung his sword in front of him then gripped it with both hands. He stared at Riku, unblinking.

Donald and Goofy ran up and stood behind Riku. The three of them pulled out their weapons and stood their ground.

"You guys ready? Be-"Phil started.

"Wait," Cloud interrupted.

"What?" Phil asked impatiently.

"I want a one-on-one fight," Cloud said, still staring at Riku.

"WHAT!? One-on-one!? N-" Phil said shocked.

"Fine by me," Riku said.

"What!? Kid! He-" Phil started.

Donald and Goofy got out of the battle field and Riku looked over at Phil.

"Fine," Phil sighed in defeat. "But don't say I didn't warn you!"

Riku looked back at Cloud, still in his battle stance. They made eye contact and waited for the signal to begin the fight. Phil gave the signal and Cloud started to circle around the field. Riku followed Clouds lead to keep the distance between them. They kept their eyes locked on each other, not wanting to blink.

Riku waited for the next move. He tensed and gripped his Keyblade tighter.

Cloud dashed forward with his sword pointed straight out in front of him. Riku rolled to the side barely avoiding the point of the blade. Cloud turned to face Riku and swung his sword.

Riku didn't expect this and was hit with the back of the blade. He flew a distance before he crashed to the ground almost landing out side the battle field. He laid there motionless.

Cloud stared at Riku for a moment then stated walking over to his body. His sword was still held out in front of him but he moved at a calm pace. Cloud stood looking down at Riku from a couple of feet away.

Riku suddenly sprung off the ground with his arms. He hit Cloud throwing him slightly off balance and landed behind him. Before Cloud could react Riku whirled around and smacked Cloud in the back with his Keyblade. Cloud was knocked forward, stumbling but he didn't fall. Riku jumped back to get more space between them.

Cloud spun around to face Riku again. They stood there staring across the field at each other. Riku charged at Cloud as Cloud dashed toward Riku with his sword stretched out in front of him. Riku blocked the sword then went to counter but Cloud jumped into the air. Riku watched as Cloud started to descend back down with his cape flared out making him look like a predator going to attack his pray. Riku couldn't react in time as Cloud landed in a kneeling position and drove his sword into the ground right next to Riku.

Riku was blasted back by a shock wave the sword created. He quickly got back to his feet and got ready for more. Cloud stood up still holding on to his sword but left it in the ground. Riku got ready to attack but didn't move. Cloud ripped his sword out of the ground and gripped it with both hands. They stared at each other, waiting for the opportune moment. Cloud started to advance and the second he moved Riku charged at him.

They met in the middle of the field, close enough to attack each other. Cloud swung his sword up and Riku swung his Keyblade down. The blades clashed together and they pushed, trying to gain the upper hand. They broke from this and began a furious storm of attacks. The barrage continued as Cloud and Riku tried to hit each other as quickly as possible. They mirrored each others moves causing only blades to clash together. At a point Riku whirled around to add more momentum to his attack but Cloud blocked with his sword. The impact was too strong for them to stay standing there and they both jumped back to keep their balance. Riku stared right at Cloud making eye contact as he tried to regulate his breathing. Cloud stared back, supporting himself with his sword as he huffed, trying to catch his breath. Riku knelt down with his blade in front of him for support but he kept looking at Cloud. His breath was starting to go back to normal but he was still breathless. He gasped then yelled with the small amount air he had in his lungs, "Look out!"

Cloud looked up to see a giant dog paw coming straight towards him. He pulled his sword up and jump out of the way just as the paw crashed down. The stone battle field broke under the massive pressure and caused a strong gust. Cloud was blasted by the force and thrown off balance. He hit the ground, releasing his sword and tumbled further. His body stopped when he hit the base of the stands.

Riku stared up at the massive, black three headed dog standing in front of him. It crouched down and one of the heads was just inches away from him. It snarled at him, showing off it's big, white, sharp teeth. It stood back up then one of it's heads shot towards Riku with it's mouth open. He jumped back then rolled to the side as it's jaw snapped shut where he was standing a moment ago.

"Kid! We gotta get out of here!" Phil yelled.

Riku got up and turned to follow. He stopped when he spotted Cloud to the side of the giant dog. "You guys go," he said and started sprinting towards Cloud.

"What are you doing!? You won't survive if you fight Cerberus!" Phil yelled. He turned in frustration and started herding Donald and Goofy out.

"What about Riku?" Goofy asked.

"It's too dangerous!" Phil said and pushed them through the door way.

Riku skidded to a stop and dropped to his knees next to Cloud. "Hey. Get up!" He said and shook his arm. He looked over at Cerberus who was turning to face them. "We're going to be dog food if you don't get up!"

Cloud just laid there. No response. His eyes didn't open, he didn't move, the only way Riku knew he was alive was his chest moving with each breath he took. Riku looked at Cerberus again to see where he was. He froze and stared in shock. All he could see of Cerberus was his razor sharp teeth and the inside of his mouth. He stopped breathing. He was staring up at what was sure to be the end of him.


	17. This is crazy

Riku stared at the inside of Cerberus' mouth, annoyed at himself. 'I should have been paying more attention to the over grown dog!' Riku thought, not liking the situation. Riku could hear the sound of someone yelling and looked over.

Rino ran forward and smacked Cerberus on the nose with his weapon. Cerberus jerked up and roared into the air. Rino turned to Riku and Cloud. "Get him out of here!" He commanded then watched Cerberus as he shook his heads.

"He's unconscious," Riku said.

Rino looked at Riku again then said, "Then wake him up!" He turned back to see Cerberus staring at him. Rino took a step back out of surprise and gulped. Cerberus went to snap at him but Rino took off running. Cerberus growled and went after him.

"You're running away? Coward!" Riku yelled.

"You're one to talk, disappearing from fights," He mumbled to himself. "I'm not running away, I'm distracting him!" He yelled back. He approached the wall almost not noticing it. He put his hand on it and turned last second. Cerberus turned and followed Rino.

Rino approached the stands and turned again. Cerberus turned and picked up speed. Rino noticed he was catching up and decided to try something else. Cerberus was about to bite at Rino but he stopped long enough to get under the massive dog. He stayed on his toes as Cerberus stopped. He looked around, trying to spot Rino, but didn't see him anywhere. Cerberus got up on his hind legs and Rino knew this was not going to be good. He dropped to all fours again, pounding the ground. A shock wave knocked Rino into the stands and pushed Cloud and Riku.

Rino shook his head trying to recover from the blast. He used the stands to support himself as he stood up. He looked up to see Cerberus crouched down and snarling at him.

Riku jumped onto Cerberus' back and looked down at Rino. "Need some help?"

"Yeah, that would be nice."

Riku swung his Keyblade smacking all three of the dog's heads. It jolted and stood back up. Riku was almost thrown off but he quickly regained his balance. "Hey, let's take this thing down!"

"What?! You mean fight it!? Are you crazy!?"

"What? You want to run away and leave this thing here to wreck the rest of the arena?"

"What? No- I- ...GRR!!" Rino messed up his hair in frustration. He sighed then said, "Fine! But if you get hurt it's not my fault!"

"Don't tell me you're leaving!"

"And let you get killed? Forget it!"

The whole time they argued , Cerberus was trying to figure out who hit it. He gave up on this and growled at Rino again. Rino took a step back then zipped off. Cerberus followed, knocking Riku off balance again.

"Could you stop making him run?"

"Sorry, but I'd rather not be eaten!"

"How can I stop him?"

"Hitting his knee caps will knock him down."

"I'm on his back!"

"uh, right," Rino looked back and turned before getting to close to the wall. "Why don't you hit it's head, uh, heads."

Cerberus stopped and raised all three of his heads into the air. Darkness started pouring out of it's mouths and Riku started hitting it's heads. It's heads jolted down and blasted the darkness into the ground.

Rino stared at Cerberus wondering what he was doing. He looked down to see darkness building up beneath his feet. He moved to the side just as the darkness shot up in a sharp pillar. Another pool of darkness swelled under him and he moved again. He dodged several more of the pillars then relaxed when no more showed up. "You should come down here and join me. Running for your life is good exercise," Rino commented.

"Thanks, but I'm fine up here. You're doing a good job though," Riku said. He kept hitting Cerberus hoping it had some effect. Cerberus started getting annoyed at Riku hitting him and turned to bite him. He couldn't reach far enough but kept trying. He stopped suddenly but kept staring back. Riku stopped hitting him long enough to see what he was staring at. "Oh, no," Riku said and braced himself.

Cerberus stared at his tail then started chasing it. He spun really fast trying to grab it with one of his heads. After 10 seconds of this Riku started getting dizzy. "How do you stop this thing?!" Riku asked. He moved forward and grabbed the middle heads ears to keep from falling. Cerberus jerked to a stop when Riku grabbed his ears.

Riku's head spun faster at the sudden stop. He let go and fell back onto Cerberus' shoulders. "Maybe I should have started running with you."

"That made me dizzy just watching."

"Why don't you stop messing around and fight?"

Rino jumped and looked to his side to see Cloud standing with his sword ready to attack.

Cloud floated into the air then sped off towards Cerberus. He swung at the three heads as he passed by then landed on the ground. He bent over and used his sword to keep him up. He was still in bad shape from the fight and being blasted into the stands. He turned to look up at Riku and said, "Take him out."

Riku recovered from being dizzy and jumped on to the ground for a better shot at it's heads. He started attacking while it was stunned and Rino started running over. As Rino got there Cerberus got back up, annoyed. Riku cast thunder causing lightning to strike the field. Rino jumped to the side as a one struck right where he was standing.

"Hey, watch what you're zapping!" Rino said.

"Watch where you're standing!" Riku shot back. Cerberus lowered it's head to snap at them but Riku bashed it's heads together with his Keyblade then swung around the other way, bashing the heads together again. Cerberus collapsed causing the area under him to break and kicked up dust.

Rino waved his hand in front of his face trying to get the dust away from him. "Well, that took a while," Rino said then sneezed. He looked over at Riku.

"Let's get Phil," Riku said and started walking off.

"No 'bless you?' Hey are you listening to me? Hey!" Rino yelled as Riku was walking away then ran to catch up.


	18. cleaning up

"Cerberus made a mess," Phil said examining the arena. Cerberus was gone thanks the Hercules who carried him off.

"It would have been worse if Riku didn't stop him," Rino commented. "By the way, if you ever fight something like that again, remind me not to help."

"Yeah, it was harder to take him down with him chasing you around," Riku said. "So, will this delay the games?"

"Yeah, it will take a while to clean this mess up," Phil said.

"Rino, you should help out since it's mainly your fault it's like this," Riku said then mumbled, "Maybe I'll be able to get far enough away so you can't stalk me."

"Don't blame this on me! It was the giant, rampaging, three headed dog that messed up the arena!"

"Don't go blaming your problems on others."

"I- me? What about you? 'It was harder to take him down,' what do you call that?"

"So is there anyway I can help out since he's being an irresponsible adult?" Riku asked Phil, ignoring Rino.

"You can help by moving the broken pieces in the arena out of the way," Phil said rubbing his goatee.

"Hey, I'll help too!" Rino whined.

"Forget it, you'll break something else!" Riku said. He started picking up broken pieces of the battle field. Hercules came back with some carts they could throw the broken parts into.

"You can help Riku in here. Me and Herc have other things to do," Phil said and left with Hercules.

Riku and Rino were moving the pieces for a while. Riku started to get bored but kept working. "How many are there?" Rino asked and threw one over his shoulder into the cart. He moved to a small pile and sat down staring at it.

"Just pick them up," Riku said an threw a small piece at the back of Rino's head. It hit him and he rubbed his head.

"Did you just throw a rock at me?" Rino asked shock and turned to look at Riku.

"What do you think Tweedledum?" Riku asked and threw another one at him.

This time Rino hit it with his short weapon. Riku dodged right before it hit him. "Wat to try that again?" Rino asked waving his weapon around a bit.

Riku grinned at tossed another one at him. Rino hit it back and noticed Riku had his Keyblade out. Riku swung the Keyblade like a baseball bat, making the rock soar straight at Rino. Rino scurried out of the way and the rock hit the ground. Rino stared at the rock then looked at Riku. "Are you trying to hurt me?" Rino asked.

"Come on, have some fun!" Riku said and tossed another rock straight up into the air. As it came back down he hit it with his Keyblade making it fly at Rino. Rino hit it back and they volleyed it back and forth for a bit. Several times Rino had to move to hit the rock because Riku was hitting it slightly to the side. Riku laughed when Rino reached out to far and fell to the ground.

"Ha ha, very funny," Rino said getting up and brushing himself off. "I hope you weren't aiming for me because, if you were, you would have horrible aim."

"No. I'm mimicking your aim."

"Yeah right, I have good aim!"

"Sure you do," Riku said sarcastically.

Rino looked at him shocked then chucked a rock at the back of Riku's head. The rock smacked Riku almost knocking him down. Riku turned and stared at Rino. "How's that for aim?"

"That's throwing not hitting."

"You just say that because you don't want to be wrong!"

"This is coming from the childish, half monkey, stalker named Tweedledum who has a Rude guy drive him around. Are you sure I'm the one that doesn't want to be wrong? You also try to prove your training from, what was that group called? The jerks?"

"The Terks! His name is Rude, he does not acts rude, I m not childish, a half monkey, or a stalker! And my name is not Tweedledum, my name's Rino!"

"I know," Riku simply stated while he put more broken fragments of the arena into the cart.

Rino just stared at him with his mouth open then sighed. Rino went back to cleaning the coliseum in silence.

Riku looked around then found the last piece. He walked over to it but realized it was too big for him to pick up. "Hey, Rino, do you think you could help me with this?" There was no answer. He looked around and spotted Rino laying half way up the stands with his back facing Riku. "Are you mad and not talking to me or something?" Riku asked and started making his way up to Rino. Rino didn't turn to look at him. "Hey, say something!"

Riku got up to Rino and stared at him for a moment. He moved up a step and sat down. "Hey, wake up," Riku said. He nudged Rino in the side with his foot. Rino jerked away and started falling down to the bottom of the stands. Riku watched until Rino's body slammed on the ground. Rino groaned in pain and rolled onto his side. Riku got up and walked down to where Rino was. "You awake now?"

"Oouch. My head hurts now," Rino complained and sat up.

"Your head hurts? But I thought your skull was thicker then a rock," Riku commented.

Rino sighed and got up. "I need a new suit."

"Come on, help me with this broken tile," Riku said, walking over to th last piece laying on the ground. "It's the last one."

Rino walked over and looted at the thing. Rino bent down and grabbed one of the edges while Riku grabbed another. It was hard to lift, even with both of them trying. They got it off the ground but walking with it would be too hard. Another person grabbed the third edge and that made it easy enough to carry to the cart. They dropped it in the cart and relaxed.

"You know, you could have just broken it into smaller pieces," Rino said.

"You could have mentioned that sooner," Riku said. "He turned to see who helped them carry tile and was surprised. "Sora!"


	19. Find Kairi

"Another kid? I'm not babysitting him!" Rino exclaimed. He leaned against the cart and it broke. The cart collapsed , kicking up dust and Rino fell no top of the rubble. He coughed because of the dust but didn't try to get up.

"Good job Tweedledum," Riku said.

"Who's he?" Sora asked.

"That's Rino. He's clumsy and tends to be more trouble then he's worth."

"Hey! I helped you take down Cerberus!"

"Yeah, congratulations, you're a good sprinter. Oh, and you almost got shocked. I bet it's because of that lighting rod you carry around."

"It's not a lightning rod! It-"

"So what have you been doing?" Riku asked Sora, ignoring Rino.

Rino let out an exasperated sigh and let himself completely go limp. "I give up."

Sora looked at Rino but turned his attention to Riku. "I've been looking for Kairi."

"Have you seen her?"

"No. No sign of her," Sora said hopelessly.

"We'll find her," Riku said trying to cheer Sora up.

"Hey, you guys finished picking up the broken parts?" Phil asked as he walked in. Donald, Goofy, and Rude walked in behind him.

"Yeah, but Rino broke the cart."

"How did he manage that?" Phil asked shocked.

"He leaned on it," Riku casually explained. "He must be fatter then he looks."

"Hey! I'm not fat! I have a lot of muscle you know!?" Rino yelled as he got up, but fell back onto the pile. He just stayed there not bothering to move.

"Really?" Riku asked unconvinced. Donald and Goofy walked over to Riku and he looked at them. "Where did you two go?"

"We got new materials for the areas that broke," Goofy explained. Donald sighed and mumbled something under his breath.

"Sora, this is Donald, the loud, short one-"

"I'm not short!" Donald yelled, stomped then turned his head away.

Riku just looked at Sora as if that little outburst proved it. "And Goofy," he added.

"Nice ta meet ya, Sora," Goofy said.

"You should come with us, we-"

"No!" Donald shouted and crossed his arms.

"What? Bu-"

"NO!" Donald shouted louder.

"Come on, he-"

"NOOOO!" Donald yelled, throwing his hands to his side and shaking his head.

"Hey, Rino," Riku turned to look at him.

"Now he cares that I exist, and he actually used my name!" Rino mumbled and pushed himself up. He got to his feet and started walking over to Rude.

"Do you think Sora can go with you?"

"I'm leaving, Rude's here," Rino stated oblivious to what Riku said. He walked over to Rude and they both left.

"Some help you are," Riku mumbled.

"It's okay. I have a way to get around. We can split and search for Kairi."

"All right. Then we can meet up once we find her."

"Yeah. We'll find her!" Sora said enthusiastically.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go," Riku said. Sora nodded in agreement and they turned to leave.

"Hold it!" Phil yelled.

"What now?" Riku whined. He slouched and looked at Phil.

"It maybe a while before the games start up but, as a junior hero, your welcome to enter. Here, take this," Phil handed Riku a junior hero license.

"Junior?" Riku questioned.

"You still don't have what it takes to be a true hero. Hey, you're just startin' out," Phil said.

"Right. Well, see ya midget man," Riku said slightly waving as he started walking away.

"What did you call me!?" Phil shouted but Riku was already through the door.

"Soo, what are the games?" Sora asked when he caught up with Riku.

"A fighting tournament for heroes," Riku explained. He stopped walking when he noticed Cloud was standing near the exit, back facing them. He turned around and looked at Riku.

He walked over to him and held his hand out. "Take this," he said slightly forcing it into Riku's hand. Then he walked past them back into the building. They watched him until the door closed behind him.

"What did he give you?" Sora asked. Riku looked to see it was another navi-G piece.

"Another one?" Riku quietly questioned. He put it away then looked at Sora. "Let's go." Donald and Goofy came up as Sora left after he said good bye to Riku. "Hey what took ya?"

"Phil told us to watch you. He said you seemed like the type to get into too much trouble," Donald said.

"That's strange," Riku commented thinking about it. "Let's go. I'm driving!" He said and raced out the gates.


	20. Cid's fury

Riku walked into Traverse Town and looked at the familiar shops. "Let's find Cid," Riku decided.

"WHAT?!" They heard Cid's voice snap. Riku looked at Donald and Goofy then ran towards the accessory shop. Riku stepped into the shop and Cid, Rino, and Rude looked over at him.

"See? He's just fine," Rino said.

"I don't give a damn! I told you to keep him out of trouble and what the hell do you do?!"

Rino looked between Cid and Riku then said, "Cid! Stop cussing! Riku will learn the words."

"Like hell I care! You didn't do what I asked ya! You left him to fend for himself and come back when he was fighting a big ass dog! I don't know what was going through your-"

"Cid! Stop cussing!" Rino said slightly frantic.

"Don't interrupt me! You come in here telling me bull-shit about why you didn't follow him then you piss me off-"

"Cid! Please! Stop cussing!" Rino said almost pleading.

"Stop interrupting me! I will say whatever the-"

As Cid spoke Rino franticly waved his arms around trying to get Cid to stop. He finally gave up on Cid, realizing he wouldn't listen, and turned to Riku. Rino quickly clamped his hands over Riku's ears before Cid said the next word in his sentence. Riku could only hear incomprehensible shouting. After half a minute Riku got annoyed and moved back so Rino's hands no longer covered his ears. Rino stumbled to grab Riku but failed when Riku moved further away.

"-now," Cid voice clearly sounded the second Riku pulled away from Rino. "Move yer ass and get the hell out of my shop!"

"You should cut down on-" Rino started but Cid cut him off.

"OUT! NOW!" Cid yelled throwing something at Rino. Rino scurried out, dodging the flying object, and Rude calmly followed him. Riku dodged to the side as the item flew past his head. It slammed into the wall next to the door then fell to the ground. He stared at it for a moment to see it was an old book. The cover was worn out, and some of the pages were missing. "Damn that Rino," Cid mumbled to himself.

"You seemed a little... mad," Riku said as he picked up the book.

"Rino sure knows how to piss me off! Anyway, forget him. How can I help ya?"

"We found some gummi parts and Rino said you could install them for us," Riku said as he walked over to Cid. He set the book down on the counter and pulled out the navi-G pieces they had collected.

"Damn, where did you go to get all those?"

"Different planets," Riku said with a slight shrug. "So can you install them?"

"Sure! No problem!" Cid said and took the navi-G pieces. All of a sudden the ground shook and some bells sounded. "Shit! What the hell was that?"

"Bells? Where in Traverse town are there bells?"

"The bells are in the second district. Go ring the bells three times."

"What? Why me?"

"Because I'm gonna be workin' on your gummi ship! Once yer done in the second district go to the house in the third district."

"Sure thing Gramps," Riku said and left before Cid could say another word. Riku stopped and looked to the left to see Rino leaning against the shop with his arms crossed. Rude, Donald and Goofy were standing with him.

"Ever since Cid stopped smoking he gets mad quicker. I think I liked him better while he was smoking. Ugh, I need a drink," Rino said as he dropped his head to look at the ground.

"You're still here?" Riku asked Rino. Everyone looked over at Riku except Rino.

"Yeah," Rino stated and stood up. He uncrossed his arms and looked over at Riku. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm heading for the bells in the second district."

"You're going to check out why they rang?"

"I guess," Riku said shrugging.

"I'll go to. Better then standing here doing nothing. Do you know where the bells are?" Rino asked.

"In the second district."

"Be more specific."

"That's all I know."

"I'll show you where they are," Rino said as he started walking towards the second district.

"Well if you know where it is why don't you take care of it?" Riku asked.

"W- I- You- ugh!" Rino said. He couldn't think of anything to say to that. "Did Cid ask you to check it out?"

Riku crossed his arms and looked to the side. "Not exactly."

"Unless you want him yelling at you I suggest you go check it out! The bells are above the Gizmo shop. There's a door on the other side of the shop where there's a ladder that leads to the bells," Rino explained as he walked over to Riku. He put a hand on Riku's shoulder and said, "It's your problem now." Then he walked towards the item shop and, as usual, Rude followed.

"That was a cheap thing to do. Well, let's go check it out," Riku said turning to Donald and Goofy. They nodded to him and they walked to the second district.


	21. steal from a theif

Riku walked through the doors into the second district and looked around. "So... Where is the Gizmo shop?"

"The Gizmo shop is is that big building on the other side of the district. You can get there by taking the path that goes past the hotel," A voice said out of nowhere.

Donald, Goofy and Riku looked around for who spoke and where they were. "Who's there?" Riku asked.

"Up here!" The voice yelled.

Riku looked up to see Yuffie jumping up and down, waving her arms around on a roof top. Yuffie suddenly slipped and fell off the roof. She bounced off the canopy that was under her and landed on the ground with a loud thud. "OW!"

"Why do you climb on to buildings if you fall off?" Riku asked bluntly.

"HEY!" Yuffie jumped to her feet and got in Riku's face. "Do you know who you're talking to?" She asked. Riku tried to back away but she just moved with him.

"A person who is overly enthusiastic, extremely clumsy and likes climbing on things even though you tend to fall off," Riku stated.

"NO!" She stood straight up and announced, "I'm the great ninja Yuffie!" She seemed to remember something and slightly jumped. "Oh yeah! I have to go meet up with Squall! I mean Leon!" She ran towards the door to the first district. As she passed by Riku she bumped into him throwing him slightly off balance then disappeared through the door.

"I still say she's clumsy," Riku decided and brushed himself off. He stopped, thought for a moment then checked all of his possessions. After looking through everything he just stood there annoyed.

"What's wrong?" Goofy asked.

"She stole my munny!" Riku said and ran through the doors to the first district. Donald sighed and Goofy watched Riku run off then looked at Donald.

Riku searched all the stores for Yuffie. He found her collecting items to buy. "Hey! Clumsy ninja!" Riku called as he walked up to her. "Didn't you say-"

"Hey! Good timing! Carry this for me would you?" Yuffie asked as she shoved the items into his chest. She let go and he grabbed them before they fell to the ground. Yuffie wandered off looking for more items.

Riku slightly growled and looked around. He spotted his bag of munny sitting on a table. He started looking around for a place to set the items down and turned around to realize Rude was behind him. "Where did you come from? And where's Rino?"

"Rino's waiting at the Gizmo shop. I was sent to find you when we realized you weren't in the second district," he explained.

"Huh. You can say more then four words at a time...So Rino's at the Gizmo shop." Riku looked over at Yuffie to see she was looking at accessories.

"Hey, Riku do you think I should- Hey! You're not Riku!" Yuffie accused Rude when she realized he was holding all the items she had picked out. She looked at the table to see the munny was gone. Yuffie jumped up and down, stomping on the ground every time she landed and yelled, "That's not fair! I'm the ninja! I stole that munny fair and square!"

Riku was outside the shop and could hear Yuffie yell. "It isn't over yet. Don't steal from me in the first place if you can't handle me getting even," Riku mumbled.

"Riku!" Donald yelled as he ran up. "Don't run off like that!"

"What? And let her spend all of my munny? I'd rather not," Riku said as he put his munny away. "Come on, let's head for the second district." He turned and was about to start walking when he realized Rude was standing there. "Hey, you going to the second district too? I bet Rino's starting to miss his shadow."

Rude just looked at Riku and started walking towards the second district.

Riku just shrugged and followed. They got to the second district. The moment they walked in heartless popped up and started attacking them. Rude made his way through the heartless towards the Gizmo shop. Riku tried to follow but the path was blocked by more heartless. Riku pulled out his Keyblade and defended himself as a soldier tried to attack him. Several shadows that were in his way jumped up to attack him and he took this chance to roll under them just to be stopped by more heartless. "Why do they decide to show up now!?"

"Riku!" Donald called as he blasted a heartless with fire.

Riku glanced back and a soldier spun around and hit Riku in the side, knocking him down. Riku braced him self as he rolled onto the ground. He looked up to see he was now surrounded by several soldiers and shadows leaping into the air right above him. He had to react, fast!


	22. bells

Riku looked around at all the Heartless and quickly decided what he was going to do. He rolled back then sprung forward. The Soldier in his way was knocked to the ground. He then slashed at it as he landed. As he turned to face the group of Heartless he took a deep breath. Riku took his stance as the Heartless charged for him. Riku met them head on with a combo of swings. Several Shadows went 2-D to attack Riku from behind. He spun around in time to block one of them but the other two tackled him down. He hit the ground and looked to see the Soldiers fighting Donald and Goofy.

"Watch out!" Donald yelled.

Riku looked up to see the Shadows falling towards him. He pointed his Keyblade at them and blasted them with a Blizzard just in time. The spell hit the Shadows and they disappeared. He sat there for a moment with his upper body slightly off the ground. When Donald and Goofy went over to Riku he just leaned back and rested on the ground to recover a little.

"No more Heartless," Goofy informed Riku

"Those things are REALLY getting annoying," Riku stated as he got up.

Suddenly they heard the bell ring and the fountain in front of the door to the first district changed. Several spots started to shoot out spouts of water as the block in the center of the fountain changed to reveal a new image. The bell rang again and this time the base of the fountain was covered by fire as the block turned again. The third time the bell chimed the fountain light up and the last side of the block was revealed.

Riku ran to the side of the walk way and leaned over slightly to get a good look at the fountain. "Is that a Keyhole?!" Riku asked surprised. He jumped over the edge of the walkway and onto a bench below. He got off the bench and ran towards the fountain. During the fight he ended up next to the second door to the hotel so he was a bit far away from the fountain.

When he was almost to the fountain pieces of giant armor slammed into the ground in front of Riku. The armor assembled, pieces floating in the right spot but not connected. It's arms swung around as if it was daring Riku to try and pass. Donald and Goofy ran up and stood on either side of Riku, ready to fight. Its arms started to spin around its body and it walked towards them. "Didn't we already deal with this thing?" Riku asked as he deflected the spinning arms.

"Yeah," Donald agreed as he cast thunder. Goofy charged forward and bashed into the armor. Riku watched all of it's moves as he attacked the Heartless.

Suddenly, the Heartless stopped moving. Riku and Goofy moved back to join Donald who had been staying back. "Did we beat it?" Riku asked. Almost as if it was answering Riku's question the armor shook. The three of them got ready to fight as the armor shook again. It stood still for a moment then started falling forward. Its hands hit the ground and the armor started to turn upside down. The feet snapped into place so they looked like clamps.

While the armor was shifting Rino and Rude were on their way to help. Rino was running forward but started slowing down as he saw the thing changing. The helmet hovered over the new shoulders of the heartless and the visor slid down to reveal two glowing yellow eyes.

Riku looked back at Rino who had completely stopped and was just staring at the Heartless. His arm up in the air holding his weapon and his mouth slightly open. "Maybe you should change your name from turkeys to chickens."

Rino snapped out of it and looked at Riku. "It's not turkeys it's-"

As Rino was talking the Heartless turned into a cannon and shot a giant blue sphere at Rino. He dodged to the side letting Rude smashing his fist into the thing, knocking it back towards the Heartless.

"Huh. It looks like he has better aim then you," Riku commented.

"I'll deal with you later!" Rino said as he ran past Riku toward the Heartless. Riku turned to face the Heartless as Rude past by him. Rino and Rude hit the thing at the same time and the armor parts scattered around them. "Can it do that?!" Rino asked.

"It just did," Riku said as he ran towards one of the clamp like hands. "Just pick a body part and attack!" He jumped into the air and slashed down, knocking the arm closer to the ground, then started a rapid combo. At the and of the combo he backed up and hit the thing with a Blizzard. The arm smacked him as it flew over to become apart of the cannon. It started to charge a shot but before it could shoot Donald and Riku cast Thunder. The cannon was thrown off by this and turned back into armor. Rino, who was closest to the armor, smacked it as Goofy and Rude ran over to help. Donald and Riku were staying where they were. Donald was attacking with magic and Riku was preparing.

After a brutal assault on the armor, one of it's arms was destroyed and the rest of the pieces flew in different directions on the battle field. The remaining arm flew towards Riku to try and grab him, but he was ready and attacked as it was coming close. It was thrown off and hit the ground. Riku shot it with Fire and the arm coiled back to swing at him again. Before Riku could move the arm was slammed in the side by Goofy, and the arm disappeared. Riku nodded to Goofy then ran over to assist Donald who was fighting the body of the armor. As Riku approached the body flew away and the legs joined it to form the cannon.

"That move is getting old," Riku stated as Rino, Rude and Goofy shifted towards him.

"Not to mention annoying!" Rino added.

Rude stepped in front of the group as the cannon fired a giant blue sphere at the group. Rude hit the sphere and everyone, lead by Rino and Riku, charged after it towards the soon to be stunned Heartless. The sphere smacked into the Heartless and Donald began to cast spells. When they were close enough Rino began to attack one of the legs and Riku went for the body. Rude and Goofy soon joined Rino in attacking the legs. They finished off the left leg and Riku jumped back just in time as the armor moved and the remaining leg flew past the group toward Donald. Riku and Rude ran after the body While Goofy and Rino went to go help Donald.

Goofy got there just in time to deflect an attack and Rino smashed the thing in to the ground. Rino jumped out of the way as Donald cast a powerful Blizzard, destroying the leg.

Riku watched as the leg disappeared then turned his attention back to the body. Rude was holding it off as Riku charged forward. When he reached the Heartless Rude turned from defense to offense. They both attacked the Heartless at the same time creating a very powerful crash sound. They backed off and looked up at the Heartless.

The armor rattled for a moment. A heart flew out of the neck area then the thing dissolved. They waited a moment as the others walked up to stand with them. Riku turned his attention to the fountain where the Keyhole sat untouched through the whole battle. He lifted the Keyblade and a beam from it connected to the Keyhole for a second before there was a click. The Keyhole started to flake off of the flat, painted surface of the fountain.

After gazing at where the Keyhole was for a moment he turned to face the others. "That fight took longer then the first time," Riku stated then added, "I bet it was because Rino was here."

"What!? Hey I helped out and you know it! Same with Rude!"

"When you try to help you usually get in the way, but Rude did help things go smoothly. Hey why don't we switch partners? Rude can come with me and Donald can go with you. Things might be quieter and more peaceful that way."

"What do you mean!?" Donald yell at the same time Rino asked, "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"I mean you're both loud and obnoxious. Plus Rude's a better fighter then both of you."

"Are you just going to stand there and let him say that!" Rino asked Rude in shock.

"I'm a magic user! I fight from a distance and I do some major damage! If I weren't around how would heal you?!" Donald yelled, fuming.

"You don't seem to realize how strong a fighter I am! I was trained by the Turks! The TURKS! So stop getting the name wrong!" Rino shouted over Donald. They were getting louder trying to be heard over the other but this was only effective in giving Riku a headache.

"See? You're both loud and obnoxious." Riku stated then turned to Rude. "How do you put up with him?"

Rude stood there silently. Donald stopped screaming but was still in a bad mood. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot. Rino stood there half shocked, half mad. His mouth was slightly open as he stared at Rude. He regained his composure and stood up straight, crossing his arms. "Fine then. You need to learn to respect your elders-!"

"Are you really that much older then me? You act like a kid, and your not that tough." Riku taunted.

Rino started at him for a moment. "I'll see you at the coliseum." He turned and started walking away. "Then you'll see how tough I am!" He called as Rude followed him out of sight.


	23. This thing again?

Riku, Donald and Goofy walked into the house in the third district. Leon was leaning on the wall and Yuffie was standing next to him. Riku watched Yuffie for a moment then walked over to where Cid was. "You sure took your sweet time!" he shouted at them.

"Sorry, Heartless don't care if you're in a hurry. So did you install the navi-G for us gramps?" Riku asked. He looked around the little room as Cid spoke barely paying attention to what he was saying.

"Stop calling me gramps! I'm not that old dammit!" Cid shouted but realized Riku either wasn't listening or didn't care. He gave an annoyed snort then changed topics. "Your ships ready, and I installed a hyper drive so you can get to planets you've already been to quickly. Last time I do anything nice for you!"

"Good," Riku turned to look at Cid as he said this. "By the way. What's with the Keyholes? I've seen three now."

"That's what the Keyblade is for. Lock everyone you see," Leon said as he walked over. "Those Keyholes lead to the heart of the world."

"So that's what the Heartless are after, the hearts of worlds? That's what happened to the islands. The Heartless got the world's heart."

"Many worlds are disappearing because of the Heartless, and you can stop it!" Yuffie announced.

While they were talking Donald started to get impatient and was tapping his foot. Riku paid no attention to him and continued with the conversation. "Really, only me huh?" He started walking out of the house with Donald and Goofy right behind him. "So I have to lock the hearts of worlds so the Heartless can't get them."

"But no meddling!" Donald announce.

"That's kind of hard to do. If we don't 'meddle' doesn't that mean that the Heartless will be running wild?" Riku asked looking over his shoulder at Donald as they walked toward the doors that led to the first district. Riku reached to push the doors opened but remembered they were locked. He noticed the Keyhole to the side and decided to see if the Keyblade could unlock the door. He pulled the Keyblade out and pushed it into the keyhole. He turned the keyblade causing the mechanism to click and the doors slightly opened then closed again. He walked through into the first district and was walking towards the shops.

"So, uh, where are we going next?" Goofy asked.

"To the coliseum if the games have started. If not then the next world."

"We don't have time to got to the coliseum! We have to find the king!"

Riku stopped walking and slowly turned around to look at Donald. "King?"

"Yeah, the king sent us to find the Keyblade bearer and-" Goofy started, but before he could continue Donald squawked at him. "Oops. Was that supposed to be a secret?" Goofy asked with his hands over him mouth. Donald was looking at Goofy half staring, half glaring and Goofy looked away from him. "Hey, uh, Donald."

"What?" Donald asked exasperated.

"He's gone," Goofy stated pointing over at where Riku was.

"What!?" Donald turned to see he was gone and started to throw a tantrum, stomping, jumping, and quacking angrily. Goofy watched him as he did.

Riku had run up the stairs and around the corner to find Yuffie. "Get back here!" He yelled as she slipped into the second district. He dashed after her as she ran towards the hotel. She looked back at him and smile. While she was looking at Riku she ran into something and hit the ground with a thud. Riku slowed down as he reached her.

"The hell's going on!?" Cid shouted. Yuffie looked up at him and laughed nervously. "Dammit Yuffie, what did you do this time!?"

"First my munny, now my potions," Riku said snatching his potions back from her. "Are you a ninja or a thief?"

"I'm the great ninja Yuffie!" She declared as she got back up. "I steal from you because you're so easy to steal from," she added defensively.

"Do you ever learn!?" Cid boomed from behind her making her flinch slightly.

Riku slipped away as Cid shouted at Yuffie about stealing. He reached the spot where he left Donald and Goofy to see they were no where in sight.

"Kupo-po."

"What the-?" Riku looked around for the source of the sound and spotted a little white creature with a big red pompom hanging over it's head and small purple wings walking up the stairs towards the accessories shop. "What is that?" Riku wondered out loud and followed it. Instead of going into the shop it went around and up the stairs to another shop that Riku didn't pay much attention to. He stood there staring at the door after the creature disappeared behind it.

Riku walked into see five of those creatures in there. "Welcome kupo!" One called to him. It was hovering next to what looked like a giant oven like machine.

"What kind of shop is this?" Riku asked as he examined the empty tables and poster covered walls.

"This is a synthesis shop!"

"And what are you?" Riku asked as he walked over. When he was close enough he reached out and ruffled the pompom.

"Hey! Hands off the pompom!" It moved so that Riku couldn't easily reach the fluffy red orb. Riku dropped his hand to his side and it spoke again. "We're moogles kupo!"

Suddenly the door burst open and Riku spun around to see Donald and Goofy in the doorway. "Riku! Let's go!"

"Hey, there you are," Riku walked over to them.

"Have a nice day kupo!" One of the moogles called as they left the shop. They walked towards the gates that lead to the ship.

"Where did you run off to?" Goofy asked.

"Yuffie stole my potions when Donald was yelling at you," Riku explained as he climbed into the ship.

Once everyone was in he took off and headed for a new point on the map because there was nothing saying the games had started. Along the way the Heartless were attacking them but Riku got rid of most of them. The ship was suddenly thrown to the side and Riku looked around for the cause.

Donald yelled, "Over there!"

Riku looked to see something too big to be a ship heading towards them. He stared at it and realized it was a giant whale. "Hang on!" He turned the ship and headed for a different world. The whale followed them trying to close the distance between them. Soon it was right under them and it's tail bashed the ship causing Riku to loose control of it.

"We're goners!" Donald shouted as the spiraled out of control. They would be eaten by the whale for sure.


	24. VAMPIRE Riku?

Rino looked around the dark deserted area then stared at the gates that lead into the town square. "Do ya thing he's here?" he asked turning to look at Rude.

"Possibly," Rude said as he walked up to Rino.

"Some help you are," Rino mumbled and looked back at the gates to examine as much as he could of the town through the metal bars. "Don't think I've ever seen a place like this before," Rino stated as he pushed the gate open. The town square was dark. A water fountain stood in the middle of the square. The serpent like creature on the fountain had a green water pouring from it's mouth. The street was covered with black stones but was not completely flat. An empty cage was hanging just above a well filled with green water. "Strange place." Rino said as he examined the fountain.

"Hey!" A voice called. Rino looked around but couldn't see anyone except Rude. He looked up to see a dark figure flying towards him. He jolted back as the person landed right in front of him. The persons was wearing a hooded cloak that fluttered to the ground around him. The person looked up at Rino and all he could see was glowing green blue eyes and white teeth, his canines were needle like fangs.

"Vampire!" Rino yelled. He swung his leg around to kick the person and the face.

"Hey!" The person yelled. He was up on his feet and Rino was unable to move.

"Hey? What?" Rino was confused as he tried to escape whatever was keeping him still.

"Another spell. It's called Stop. It comes in handy."

The spell released him and he flailed in the air for a moment before he hit the ground with a thud. "Who are you?" Rino asked still confused as he got up and brushed himself off.

"What? You haven't figured it out yet?"

"Well..." Rino stared at the person. He had the cloak which hid all except his face. His skin looked pale and he had silver hair. "Riku!... Did you disappear on the other two?" Rino asked looking around but saw no sigh of Donald or Goofy.

"No. They're with Jack right now. He's making a heart to try to control the Heartless with so-"

"Stop! Thieves!" Someone yelled.

Rino, Rude, and Riku looked to see three kids running away with what looked like a cloth heart that was beating. Donald and Goofy appeared through a door chasing after the kids and Riku followed. Rino looked between Riku and Rude, as if someone was going to explain what was going on, then raced after Riku.

They chased after the kids which lead them through a grave yard. A ghost dog with a glowing orange pumpkin for a nose popped up and scared Rino. Rino fell into one of the statues and the others were out of sight before he regained his composure. They ran up a curled hill that uncurled into a bridge over a fence. They ran past Heartless, through a gate to a wooden bridge. Riku, Donald, and Goofy were right behind the kids who were heading up to a large crooked, uneven mansion. Riku cast stop on them before they could get too close but one got away.

"What do you think you're doing stealing that heart!?" Donald demanded from the two the caught.

"We were going to take it to Oogi Boogi," The boy with the skeleton costume explained.

"Who's he?" Donald asked.

"The scariest person in all of Halloween Town!" The girl announced.

"Where is he?" Riku asked.

"Right here!" Someone declared from the front of the manner. A man made of cloth with pointed hands and a pointed head was standing there holding the still beating cloth heart.

"Don't tell me THAT is Oogi boogi. He's a talking, overgrown pillowcase!" Riku exclaimed.

"Of course I'm Oogi Boogi! And how DARE you call me an overgrown pillowcase! I'm much too handsome to be compared to a pillowcase!" Oogi retorted.

"You don't look that different from a pillowcase and you're definitely not handsome! Now give back that heart!"

"You want it? Then come and get it!" He waved the heart toward them as he spoke then swallowed it. "Let's see what this thing can do. Heartless, come to me!" Two gargoyle Heartless calmly flew to either side of Oogi Boogi. "What?" Oogi looked to one then the other. "That's it?!"

"Maybe if you didn't swallow the heart then more would have come. Then again they might not want to listen to a talking pillowcase," Riku said calmly examining his Keyblade as if it were more interesting then what was going on.

"How dare you! Heartless, ATTACK!" Oogi yelled. As the Heartless flew forward to attack, Oogi took the chance to try and get away.

Riku ran after Oogi. As he past the Heartless they tried to attack him but he deflected them with the Keyblade. Oogi jumped down to a lower level of the strange manor. Right before he was out of Riku's sight he threw two large orange dice. Riku deflected one to the side but the other one exploded as it hit the ground next to him. The force of the blast made him ram into the wall next to him, shoulder first. He winced slightly at the pain but followed Oogi the next moment.

He chased after Oogi who darted every which way to try and lose Riku but when he realized it wouldn't work he threw another pair of big orange dice over his shoulder. This time Riku swung his Keyblade up, hitting both of the dice high into the air. A jolt of pain surged through his right shoulder at the fast movement but he did his best to ignore it. He swung his Keyblade out in front of him and shot a fireball at Oogi. It skimmed past his head and left shoulder.

The flames caught on his shoulder and it began to burn. He jumped in shock and tried to shake it out, but the flame just kept growing. As the flame consumed the cloth on his arm bugs began to spill out of the holes. Soon his whole arm was gone and the flame was traveling to his torso. Riku spotted the heart through the bugs and burning cloth. He reached out to try and grab it but Oogi was flailing to much to let him get close. The bugs began to scurry away from the fire, leaving the lifeless cloth behind. Part of the heart caught on fire and Riku used a Blizzard to put it out.

He looked at the remains of Oogi's skin as Donald and Goofy seemed to appear from no where. Riku picked up the partly burnt heart that was no longer beating and looked at Donald and Goofy. "You two are slow."

Donald crossed his arms, looked to the side with his beak in the air and made a 'humph' noise. Goofy looked at the heart. "Gawrsh ,it's ruined."

"Looks like it. What was the point of making it anyway?" Rino suddenly climbed up to where the others were standing.

"Jack was trying to get the Heartless to dance and thought this would help."

"Dancing Heartless? Sounds interesting, I would have liked to see that." Rino said examining the Heart. Rino looked at Riku's hand then suddenly asked, "Hey, what's wrong with your arm?"

"What are you talking about? My arm's just fine, see," He moved his left arm, which was holding the heart, around in it's joint to show it was okay.

"You're other arm smart guy," Rino stated as he pulled Riku's wrist so he could get a better look at Riku's arm. Riku did a half wince as he was yanked toward Rino.

"The pillowcase man threw exploding dice at me and I hit a wall. Let go, you're as gentle as a rhino!" Riku exclaimed and pulled his arm away from Rino.

"Too bad you didn't hit your head," Rino mumbled.

"What?" Riku asked.

"Nothing," Rino replied in a to cheery, 'I'm hiding something' kind of way'. "Come on let me see your arm," Rino said as he pulled Riku's wrist again.

"Stop that! It hurts, dammit!"

Rino looked at Riku slightly horror struck. He let go of Riku's wrist. His arm fell to his side and his mouth was very slightly open.

"What?" Riku asked backing away slightly.

"You learned that from Cid didn't you?!" Rino asked as he suddenly snapped out of his shocked state.

"What?!" Riku asked slightly confused now.

"I asked him to stop but no he had to just keep cussing!" Rino said slightly exaggerated.

"Oh that. No I knew those words before I heard Cid say them. Including the one you cover my ears for."

"How do you know what he said?"

"I can't lip read but I can tell when someone says the word f-"

"DON'T SAY IT!" Rino yelled, his eyes were wide. "I can't believe this- Let's just head for the coliseum, the games have started." Rino said as he slouched and began to walk away.

"What's gotten into him?" Riku asked Donald and Goofy. Both of them shrugged.


	25. He's strong?

"There! All better!" Donald announced after healing Riku's shoulder.

Riku tested his arm by moving it in all directions and found it was perfectly fine. "Great. Now, one question: why did we let Goofy drive?" Riku asked looking over at Goofy in the drivers seat.

"We're using hyper drive to get to the coliseum," Donald reminded Riku.

"Right," Riku said still not completely sure if letting Goofy near the controls was a good idea or not. Goofy sat there pressing a button here and there then looked around the controls. He spotted the button he was looking for near the middle of the board.

He pressed the button and the ship jolted forward into motion. Riku and Donald were slammed back into their seats as the surroundings outside became nothing but a blur. Riku gripped the chair tightly as the gummi came to an almost instant stop. Donald was thrown out of his chair and Riku's grip was torn off and he landed on his back.

"Can we be warned before we do that next time?" Riku asked as he got up then pulled Donald onto his feet.

"Oops. Sorry about that." Goofy said as he got up from the drivers seat.

"Come on, Rino's probably already here," Riku said as he walked off the ship. Donald and Goofy followed him as he past through the big doors that lead to the coliseum.

"Hey! If it isn't the junior heroes. Back for the games?" Hercules asked from the doors into the coliseum.

"You bet," Riku said as he walked towards the doors. "Hey, is the red haired guy here yet? He wears a suit and travels with a bald guy."

"Yeah, I think he's in the middle of a match right now," Hercules walked into the arena with them then wandered over to where Phil was.

Riku stared at the battle field where Rino and Rude were fighting a bunch of the small flying Heartless. There were four red ones, two yellow ones, three blue ones and five green ones. Rino was flailing his weapon around trying to hit the green ones but only managed to hit a blue one as he swung his weapon back to get ready to hit a yellow one. Rude was hitting most of the ones he was aiming for but every once in a while they would slip away before his fist made contact. Riku watch as Rino missed a clump of three then fell to the ground trying to reach further to hit them.

Riku looked around the coliseum seeing who else was in there. Phil was talking to Herc a little ways away from one of the corners of the battle field and Cloud was sitting in the corner of the stands as close to the door as he could be. Riku walked over to him completely ignoring Rino's yells of frustration. "Hey, you in the tournament to?"

Cloud looked up at him for a moment. His hands were rested on the end of his blade's handle, the blade it's self was stabbed into the ground. He shifted his hands and pulled his blade out of the ground and set it aside. "I'm in the next one," Cloud stated as he stood up. Riku had to look up slightly because Cloud was taller then him. "If you make it to the next tournament maybe we can have a rematch. Our last one was cut short. That is, if you make it that far," Cloud said and walk past Riku and out of sight through the door.

"Better be ready! I've learned more tricks since our last fight!" Riku yelled after Cloud.

"Hey, you showed up! Who were you yelling at?" Rino asked as he walked over.

"Of course I showed up! And I was warning Cloud about the next time we fight."

"You know what, you're really over confident," Rino stated. "You ready for our match?"

"You have to ask?" Riku replied walking over to the battle field.

"There he goes being over confident again," Rino mumbled as he strolled over to Rude's side. "Ready to teach him a lesson, partner?" Rino asked turning his head to the side to look at Rude. Rude slightly nodded and straightened his tie. "Don't be too rough," Rino said loud enough for Riku to hear as he entered the battle field with Donald and Goofy in his wake.

"Don't say that, without him you'll probably lose within a minute," Riku said trying to annoy Rino.

"Keep thinking that but you're about to learn what the Turks can really do," Rino pulled out his short weapon and tapped it on his shoulder twice.

"We'll see about that," Riku said pulling his Keyblade out and taking his usual stance.

Rino turned and grinned at Rude and the moment he did Phil gave the signal to begin the fight. Rino instantly looked back toward Riku and shot forward to attack while Rude went to hold off Donald and Goofy. Riku barely had enough time to react and rolled out of the way just as Rino reached the spot he was at. "Still feeling so confident?" Rino asked tapping his weapon on his shoulder again.

"The battles just begun," Riku pointed out and hit Rino with a stop. Riku got up and charged at Rino but before he reached him the stop spell wore off. As Riku swung the Keyblade forward Rino whipped his weapon into the way and held Riku there.

"That spell's not strong enough to keep me still for long!" Rino exclaimed and threw Riku backwards by forcing the Keyblade away as he swung his weapon high into the air. The air was forced out of Riku's lungs as he hit the ground. Rino was advancing for another attack and Riku rolled back then sprung forward to try and get out of the way. Rino dodged as Riku's feet past by then slammed Riku's side with his weapon not only sending him flying in a new direction but also slightly shocking him in the process. Riku hit the ground and rolled, his elbows, back and head hitting the ground hard every time they made contact, until a foot stopped him. He looked up breathless to see Rude standing there looking down at him.

"Had enough yet?" Rino asked as he calmly roamed the battle field indirectly heading towards Rude and Riku.

Riku looked around to realize that Donald and Goofy were knocked out in the corner of the field. Riku clenched his teeth slightly as he caught his breath. Rude moved away, taking his foot off of Riku's side, and stood near one of the edge of the battle field. Riku turned from his side on to his back and cast thunder. He quickly got up and launched himself toward Rino. When he was close enough he wheeled around and lashed at Rino's side. The Keyblade made contact with Rino's gut and Riku grinned. As Riku started to spin away from Rino he left himself open and Rino weakly kicked him square in the back. Riku stumbled, choking for air and landed in a kneeling position. He looked over his shoulder at Rino then turned and stared at the ground.

"Come on, kid. Give up before you really get hurt."

Riku shook his head. "I won't... I can't... do that." Riku said between gasps. Riku forced him self up and faced Rino, still panting.

"Stubborn kid," Rino mumbled. Rino shot forward but this time Riku was ready for him. Riku moved to the side and slashed diagonally hitting Rino's shoulder and lower arm. Rino faltered and Riku took the chance to smash Rino in the back with his Keyblade causing Rino to stumble slightly. Riku was about to assault Rino again when Rino turned around and quickly swung his weapon so that it skimmed Riku's shoulder then hit the back of his neck right at the base of his head. Riku jolted from the blow, instantly knocked unconscious, then began to fall to the ground. His body went limp, releasing the Keyblade, and he hit the ground with a hard thud.


	26. We meet again

When Riku came to most of his body was sore, especially his head.

"Was it necessary to do that?" Riku could hear Phil ask.

"Hey, he wouldn't give up. He wouldn't have won anyway," Rino stated. "Have to give him credit though. Never met someone as stubborn as him, but he needs to stop being such a punk," Rino said then mumbled to himself but it wasn't understandable. Riku could catch 'Tweedledum' 'Turks' and 'disrespecting' but that was it. Riku suddenly reached out and smacked Rino in the back of the head. "Hey!" Rino shouted looking back at Riku. "What was that for?"

"Why is it you could fight like that all along but you just decided to act like an idiot and let me do all the work?" Riku asked as he sat up. He noticed they were sitting on the stands, Rino was on a lower spot then he was, and Phil and Rude were standing nearby. His head throbbed harder and he sat still not wanting it to get worse.

"I was told to keep you from getting killed or seriously hurt, not to fight your battles. Plus why would I want to help you when you're disrespecting and like to insult me or get names wrong on purpose?" Rino asked looking up at Riku. As Rino spoke Rude walked up to Riku and gave him an elixir to help his injuries.

"Well, maybe if I didn't think you were an idiotic, waste of space who always got in the way then I would have been more respectful."

"I was not a waste of space and I did not get in the way!"

"You forgot the idiotic part, unless you agree with that?" Riku got up and stretched as he stepped down off the stands.

"I do not agree with that!" Rino stated, watching Riku. "Maybe I should have beat you up more, or smacked you in the head harder. That might have knocked some sense into you," Rino mumbled as he got up.

"Where's Donald and Goofy?" Riku asked when he realized they were missing, along with Hercules.

"They left for Traverse Town a while ago to get supplies."

"What? How long have I been out?" Riku asked now staring at Rino.

"Three hours," Rude stated before Rino even opened his mouth.

"They left soon after they were healed," Rino added.

"And you left me to be in pain?"

"Hey, we didn't think you'd be up for a while. Besides, we still had some fights in the tournament to finish."

"Great, thanks for caring," Riku said sarcastically as he walked towards the door. Rino and Rude followed but Phil stayed to watch the next match. Riku glanced back to realize Cloud was one of the fighters. Riku walked through the door and seconds later was bowled down and squashed.

"Oops, sorry," Goofy said as he got up. Donald rolled off Goofy's back and landed on his feet. Riku got up and looked at them.

"Thanks for leaving me here, I thought you needed me because I had the Keyblade."

"Hey, that reminds me, have you found all the Keyholes for all the worlds you've visited so far?" Rino asked.

"I haven't found the one here," Riku said and noticed the big square rock Phil had asked Riku to move before. It was still in the same spot. Riku thought for a moment then walked over to it. "Donald, Goofy, help me move this."

"Huh? What for?" Donald asked but went over anyway.

"We were asked to move it weren't we?" Riku started to push the boulder when Donald and Goofy went over to help.

The three of them were able to slide the rock to the side with ease. When the rock was moved the wall behind it was revealed and there was a keyhole visible in the light of the flickering flames. "A Keyhole!" Donald announced in surprise.

Riku automatically pointed the Keyblade at it. A beam of light connected the end of the Keyblade to the Keyhole and they could hear a click. He light disappeared as the image of the Keyhole faded away.

"So," Riku turned to face the others as his Keyblade disappeared. "On to the next world?"

"You bet," Donald agreed.

"There are still two planets on the map that we haven't visited. So we'll head there and afterwards get our new coordinates. I'm driving."

"You let him drive?" Rino asked Donald surprised.

"Yeah! He got us away from a giant whale when it attacked us," Goofy said before Donald could answer.

"He was lucky!" Donald said and crossed his arms.

"Giant... whale?" Rino thought about that slightly confused. He looked at Rude who just looked back at him.

"Don't ask," Riku said as Rino opened his mouth again to talk. "Are you going to continue to follow us?"

"Are you going to disappear on us again?" Rino asked.

"Maybe," Riku said as he walked towards the gates.

"Hey, Riku, sorry you didn't win. Come back and try again, okay?" Herc called as he passed by them.

"I will the next chance I get," Riku called back.

"'Maybe' isn't the answer I was looking for." Rino stated.

"If I disappear, you'll know, won't you?" Riku said grinning and got into the gummi ship before Rino could say anything to him.

"Sometimes I have to wonder if it's worth dealing with that kid," Rino complained to Rude. They climbed into their ship as Riku took off.


	27. sidetrip

"Hey, I don't remember that world," Riku said pointing to one past Traverse Town.

"Oh, that's our world," Goofy explained.

Riku turned and stared at them for a moment, thinking. He turned back around and announced, "We're taking a side trip."

"WHAT!?" Donald yelled. "WHY?!"

"You were in Traverse Town when we met and that was soon after my world disappeared," Riku explained.

"So?" Donald asked crossing his arms.

"SO, Kairi might be there!" Riku stated as if it was obvious.

"No! We're not going back until we find the King!"

"Fine, don't go, but I am."

"No! You're not going to the castle-"

"I'm not asking for permission, I'm going!"

"No you're not!"

Riku whirled around and stared straight at Donald, his eyes were determined and annoyed even though the stare was serious and almost cold. "And how are you going to stop me?" He asked flatly.

Donald flinched slightly under his gaze but did not back down. He stood up straight to make himself seem more intimidating but Riku just kept staring, waiting for an answer. "I'll drive-"

"I'll take it back, by force if I have to."

"I'll tie you down-"

"I'll get out."

"Goofy will help me!"

Riku turned to look at Goofy. When he noticed Riku looking at him he waved his hands and shook his head, not wanting to get involved. Riku turned back to look at Donald with a slight grin. "I don't have to say anything this time." His grin dropped back to the straight faced stare that was concentrated on the now nervous duck.

He looked around, struggling to think of something else then crossed his arms and stuck his beck high in the air. "I won't let you!"

"What, are you my mom now? I don't need your permission, I've already told you that."

"Then I'll cast stop on you!" Donald yelled now getting really mad.

"I'll try again later, besides I wouldn't be much help if I couldn't move."

"You can go later we're busy right now!"

"Not really. So there isn't really any excuse I shouldn't go."

Donald began his usual tantrum of jumping up and down and flailing his arms. "We're not GOING!"

"You don't have to, I'll drop you off at Traverse Town. It will be pay back for leaving me at the coliseum."

"She might not be there." Donald said, calmer now.

"And there's a chance she might be."

"The chances aren't good."

"You just like to argue," Riku decided and spun back to face the controls. Donald was complaining and yelling at Riku. Riku got sick of it as he was heading out. He thought of something and looked to see Goofy strapped into his seat. Riku smirked and threw the ship into hyper drive, throwing Donald back into his seat. When they came a stop and landed Donald jumped out of his seat. "You did that on purpose!" Donald accused.

"Did what?" Riku asked innocently. "Why are you so against going anyway?"

"We were supposed to find the King!"

"Not that again. So you can continue looking for your king but I can't look for my friend?"

Donald thought and growled and finally said, "FINE! Go look for your friend." Donald turned away with his arms crossed. He marched off the gummi ship with Goofy right behind him. He didn't look back as he heard the gummi ship take off.

"Uh, ya know, maybe we should have gone with him."

"Aw, phooey" Donald said marching towards the second district. "We're searching for someone and he decides to take a side trip!"

"But he's looking for his friend."

"He's the Keyblade bearer! He has to save the worlds!"

"Hey! You two were with Riku, weren't you?" Sora asked as he walked up to them.

"Who are you?" Donald asked staring up at Sora.

"I'm Sora, we met at the coliseum."

"Oh." Donald said remembering but not really caring at the moment.

"So...Where is he?" Sora asked looking around for Riku.

"He's gone!" Donald said annoyed.

"What? What do you mean gone?"

"He left to do his own thing. Who needs him anyway?" Donald stated and walked past Sora. Sora turned and watched as the duck disappeared though the doors to the hotel. When Donald was out of sight and the door closed behind him Sora sighed and he slouched, dropping his shoulders.

"See? Even the people he's traveling with think he's not needed," Maleficent said as she glided out of nowhere to Sora's side.

"But, he's my friend."

"What a friend. He left you to go running off with his new friends, leaving you to go in search of your other friends alone. I can help you, I'm much more trustworthy then a boy like him."

Sora stood there for a minute not wanting to accept what she was saying. He turned to look at her, making his decision.

Riku reached the world and found himself in an interesting room fill with gears, pipes and a bunch of mechanical objects. He got out of the gummi and started walking up the stairs, looking around at the room trying to figure out the point of different things in there. There was a tall tower that he guessed watched the gummi ships land and take off but it was empty at the moment. He walked out of the strange room and into a garden. He walked out of a bush that was shaped like a small castle. He walked around until he found a door. The hall on the other side of the door bent around out of sight.

"No, I'm going!" Someone stated as Riku was getting close to the bend in the hall. The person ran around the corner and right into Riku. The person fell to the ground and Riku lost his balance for a moment. His eyes widen from the sudden crashed and he regained his balance. He sighed slightly then looked at the person to see who it was.


	28. Women

Riku's eyes widened and he grinned. "Kairi!"

Kairi looked surprised at hearing her name and looked up at him. "Riku!" She jumped to her feet as two other people came around the corner. The newcomers were both kind of short. One was a mouse with a pink dress, the other was a duck in a purple dress.

"Oh, do you know him, Kairi?" The mouse asked.

"Yeah, this is one of my friends from the islands. His name is Riku. Riku, this is Minni and Daisy," Kairi introduced them, pointing to the person as she said their name.

"Hi." Riku said looking at the two.

"Minni is a queen."

Riku looked at Kairi surprised. "Really?" He looked back at the mouse in the pink dress.

"Yup!" Kairi said enthusiastically. "Is Sora with you?" Kairi asked and looked around Riku to see if he was there.

"No, we split up to look for you." Riku looked to the side and continued, "I'll find him and-"

"I'm going too!"

"What!?" Riku's head snapped back to look at Kairi in shock. "But it's dangerous out there! There are Heartless running around. What if they get you?"

"What if they get Sora?" Kairi asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"He's tough. He can fight them-"

"Are you saying I can't?"

Riku sighed, she was going to be difficult. "I'll find Sora-"

"I want to help!"

"Then stay here. If we're all running around trying to find each other we might not be able to get everyone-"

"I'll go with you."

"I'm not sure the people I'm traveling with will be happy about that."

"I'M GOING!" Kairi shouted and tried to run past Riku. Riku ran after her to get a door slammed in his face. Minni and Daisy followed. They got to where Riku was as he flung the door open and ran through. Kairi was at the gummi ship about to get in when Riku caught her. "I want to help!" Kairi stated and she crossed her arms, pouting.

"This gummi ship. This is the ship we sent Donald and Goofy off in. Are they with you?" Minni asked.

"Not at the moment. They're at Traverse Town right now."

"So you must be the Key bearer." Minni asked.

"Yeah. My name's Riku."

"It's a pleasure to meat you," Minni said and nodded.

"He looks a little rough around the edges." Daisy said.

"Hey-" Riku started but Kairi distracted him.

"You're the Keyblade bearer?" Kairi asked. "Minni's told me about it. So you have it?"

"Yeah," Riku said. He held up his hand and the Keyblade appeared in it. The thin black blade swirled to form the usual key shape. A bat went around the handle to form the guard and a little moon hung from a chain at the end.

"Whoa," Kairi awed as she stared at the Keyblade, examining the curving end of the blade.

Donald and Goofy wandered into the third district as they waited for Riku. "Maybe we should have talked to Sora a bit more. What you said didn't sound very nice." Goofy suggested as they went over to the house with new curtains in the window.

"Humph," Donald stuck his beak in the air and marched into the house. Everyone in the house stopped what they were doing and looked over at them as they walked in.

"Hey, you guys still here?" Yuffie asked. "I thought you had to leave to get Riku. Or did you decide to ditch him for us?"

"Well, actually," Goofy started.

"He decided to take a side trip and left us here," Donald finished.

"What? Why? Where did he go?" Yuffie asked interested.

"He went to see if one of his friends was at the castle," Goofy explained.

"Have you found any of his friends?"

"Yeah, we saw one of his friends twice now, but, uh, the second time it was just us," Goofy said.

"Man, that's not fair," Someone said as they opened the door. Rino stepped in to be greeted by everyone staring at him. He and Rude came into the little house. "Hey," He greeted then spotted Donald.

"What are you guys doing here, I thought you were heading for a new world." Rino said.

"We were going to," Donald grumbled and crossed his arms.

"What? Don't tell me he decided to disappear on you."

"No, I left them here on purpose," Riku stated as he stood next to Rino. Rino jumped and looked to his side to stare at Riku.

"When did you get in here?"

"I came in right behind Rude."

"Well, if saving the worlds doesn't work out then I guess you could get a job being a ninja," Rino leaned forward and added in a whisper, "I'm sure you'd be better then one I know." He gestured over his shoulder towards Yuffie.

"Hey!" Yuffie yelled over hearing the comment. "I'm the great ninja Yuffie!"

Riku didn't hear her and continued to talk to Rino in a semi whisper. "She seems to be more of a thief then a ninja. She's already tried to steal from me twice."

"Helloooo!" Yuffie said trying to get their attention.

"Exactly why I said you'd be better then someone I know, but she isn't as much of a thief as a nuisance."

"Hey!" Yuffie barked starting to get mad.

"Yeah I guess that makes sense. I haven't seen her much but most of the time she's around she's annoying," Riku agreed.

"You've barely seen anything," Rino declared forgetting to whisper. "I've dealt with her so long I have seen how annoying she really can be, and let me tell you, you-" Rino was cut off because suddenly Yuffie hit him extremely hard in the back of the head with the flat side of her giant shuriken. He fell forward but Riku knocked him to the side and he landed on the table.

"Stop talking like I'm not here!" Yuffie shouted at Rino as he rubbed his head. Riku started to laugh and Yuffie turned her fiery gaze to him. She turned towards him swinging her shuriken and exclaimed, "THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO!" Riku turned to try and run away but the flat side of her shuriken connected with the back of his head and made him fall forward, landing on the floor at Leon's feet.

Riku started to sit up as he grunted, "Women."

Leon shook his head knowing Riku's comment was not the smartest thing to say.

"What was that!?" Yuffie called waving her shuriken around threateningly.

"You're in for it now," Rino said as he got up.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on let's go!" Riku said as he ran past Rino making him loose balance. Donald and Goofy were right behind him and made it so Rino couldn't regain his balance.

"Oh no, I'm not done with you yet! Get back here!" Yuffie yelled and ran past Rino, bumping into him as she went. Rino toppled backwards and sighed.

"This is not my day," Rino stated and ran out after the group with Rude on his heels.


	29. Disappearing act

"For once your vanishing act came in handy! Even though it almost got me killed," Rino announced.

"Why are you here?" Riku asked turning away from the steering wheel.

Donald glanced at Riku then did a double take when he realized Riku wasn't driving. "Watch what your doing!" Donald commanded.

"You drive," Riku told Donald as he got up. Donald scurried to the drives seat yelling the whole way. "You left Rude behind because you were afraid of being beaten up by a girl? That's pathetic."

"Hey, you ran too! And I beat you in the Colosseum so you know I'm stronger then you!" Rino exclaimed.

"I don't know, that might have been a fluke. I bet if you didn't have Rude you would have lost."

Riku challenged.

"I- Uh- HEY!" Rino got to his feet and stood right in front of Riku, looking down at him. Rino took a deep breath in and stood up straight to try and look more intimidating as he jabbed a finger at Riku. "That wasn't a fluke and you know it! I beat you fair and square in a one-on-one match and I bet you I could do it again!" he announced. Riku gave Rino a blank stare as he looked up at him then he closed his eyes and shrugged. Riku walked around Rino and sat down. Rino deflated in confusion. He was at a loss for words as he tried to figure out what just happened. He opened and closed his mouth as he thought through what Riku just did. Rino spun around and asked Riku, "no come back?!"

"I know when I'm beat," Riku simply stated.

"Arg! The one time I expect you to have a come back you go silent! Why!?" Rino yelled explosively then went silent and stared at Riku waiting for an answer.

"I just don't have anything to say."

"You," Rino stated accusingly, " you are doing this on purpose."

"No. I just have nothing to say."

Rino stared at Riku for a moment then sighed. "I give up." Rino stated and slumped into a seat. "Why did I have to watch this kid?" Rino mumbled to himself as he rubbed his head.

Riku grinned in victory then turned to Donald. "Are we almost there?"

"Yup. Just reached the world!" Donald exclaimed as they were landing. Donald whirled around and walked towards the door. Riku got up to follow Goofy and Donald off the ship. He glanced around to see a town and a lot of sand.

"Reminds me of destiny Islands except with a sea of sand instead of water."

"We're in a desert?" Rino whined as he stumbled out of the Gummi ship.

"looks like it," Riku said then turned to look at Rino. "Don't over heat. If you faint I'm leaving you there."

"Sheesh what a nice guy you are. Just remember to take your own advice," Rino replied in a serious tone.

"I grew up on a island, I'll be fine. Did the turkeys teach you to stand the heat?"

"Turks!" Rino yelled and marched towards the town. He stood in a cut out in the wall that surrounded the town.

Riku walked past Rino into the city and glanced around. "Where are all the people?"

"Who knows," Donald said.

"Maybe the Heartless scared them away," Goofy suggested.

Riku walked further into the little section of the city and a large Heartless and several smaller ones with blades appeared. Riku pulled out his keyblade and got ready to fight. "Speaking of Heartless looks like our welcoming crew is here to make us feel right at home."

"Don't these guys ever take a break?" Rino asked.

The big Heartless leaned back then shot a fireball at Riku. Riku dodged to the side barely in time but the fireball kept going towards Rino. He put his arm up to block and his sleeve caught fire.

"When did they get the ability to use fire!?" Rino demanded as he tried to put the fire out.

"Who knows? Better yet who cares?" Riku said and attacked on of the smaller Heartless. "Would you stop being lazy and help out?"

"Sorry I was a little preoccupied by my arm being on fire," Rino stated and hit a Heartless. Another Heartless flew at Rino who barely dodged. "These things are such a pain!"

"Hey stop complaining, you're not dealing with dragon breath!" Riku said as he rolled out of the way of another fireball. Riku got behind the giant Heartless and attacked it. As it was disappearing Donald shot a blizzard at it and almost hit Riku. As Riku got out of the way his foot hit something and made a clank sound. He looked down to see he hit a lamp.

"Is that all of them?" Rino asked.

Riku picked up the lamp then looked around the empty bizarre. "Looks like it," He said as he tucked the lamp away.

"It singed my suit." Rino complained as he examined his sleeve.

"At least you can change your suit unlike your hair." Riku stated.

"Did my hair get singed!?"Rino asked in a slight panic and felt his head. "Where!?"

"I didn't say your hair was singed." Riku said as he stared at Rino. "Hey, looks like your shadow's back."

Rino stopped checking his hair and stared at Riku, frozen. "My shadow?" Rino slowly turned around to find himself face to face with Rude. "Hey partner."

"He's gone again." Rude stated.

"What!?" Rino whirled around and growled when he realized Riku Donald and Goofy were all gone. "I can't take my eyes off of him for a second!"


	30. Kidnapped

Meanwhile, Riku was wandering around the city looking for people. "A place this big should have at least some people."

"Ya think the Heartless got them all?" Goofy asked.

"Hard to say." Riku replied. He jumped up onto a higher ledge causing Donald to squawk.

"What are you doing!?"

"Moving to higher ground to get a better view." Riku explained absentmindedly as he jumped up two more ledges.

"Wait for me!" Goofy yelled as he followed Riku. Donald sighed but followed anyway.

Riku reached the top and spotted a pole to a higher area. He went up to examine the area above. His attention was instantly caught by a carpet pacing around the small room. "A walking carpet?" The carpet suddenly seemed to notice Riku and flew over to him. "Okay flying carpet." The carpet tried to tell him something but it couldn't speak. "I don't know what you want."

The carpet slumped forward then seemed to realize something. In an instant the carpet swept under Riku's feet and took off with him on it. The carpet flew out of the room and passed Donald and Goofy.

"Hey get those two." Riku told the carpet. The carpet flew down and picked up Rino and Rude. "I didn't mean these two!"

"What's with the carpet?" Rino asked as he watched the city get smaller and smaller.

"Don't know. It just picked me up and took off."

"First a normal guy going crazy and wanting to destroy the world, then green light stopping a comet now a flying carpet! I think I've seen everything." Rino stated as he stared at the ground zooming by below them.

"What's that up ahead?" Riku asked. Rino swiveled his head around to see a circle of tall rocks gleaming in the light of the moon. "Is that a cave entrance?"

"Looks like a tiger head," Rude commented.

"Well whatever it is thats one big statue." Rino added. Near the middle of the rocks was a rock tiger head who's eyes and mouth glowed a fire like color in the night. "Think that's where were being taken?" Rino asked then looked over at Riku.

"Why ask me?" Riku said with a slight shrug.

"Because you're the one that made this thing pick us up!" Rino exclaimed as he jerked to punctuate his point. The carpet rocked from the shift and sent Rino toppling off landing in the sand. A plume of smoke temporarily hid Rino from sight.

"Rino!" Riku jumped off the carpet and landed on his feet a couple yards away from the cloud of sand around Rino. He ran into the dust cloud and slammed into Rino as he was getting up making them both fall down and kicking up more sand in the process.

"Talk about a rough landing," Rino mumbled and shoved Riku off of him. Rino got up as the sand started to settle again and offered a hand to help Riku up. Riku ignored Rino's offer as he rolled back. When he sprung forward Rino barely recoiled his hand in time to not get hit. "Guess thats what I get for trying to help." Rino grumbled as he brushed himself off.

"You know Rino there are probably easier ways to get out of going somewhere." Riku said as the carpet and rude landed near Rino.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Rino walked over to Riku and stated, "Let's just get this over with so I can go get a new suit."

"Waiting on you," Riku told Rino as he pushed Rino towards the carpet almost making Rino fall.

"So pushy. You remind me of elane," Rino said as he settled for a spot on the carpet. "I think I got sand in my mouth."

"Wouldn't surprise me with how big of a mouth you got," Riku remarked.

"Keep talking then we'll see how has the-" Rino was interrupted by a sound that was a mix of a yell and a squawk. Riku turned to see what it was when suddenly the thing flew at him. It landed on his shoulder then frantically started climbing all over him. "What the-?" Riku was too confused to finish his sentence when the thing jumped off of him. It landed in front of him where he realized it was a monkey. It was jumping up and down pointing in the direction it came from. Riku looked in the direction to see a bunch of Heartless. He pulled out his Keyblade and raced towards them with Rino and Rude not far behind. As Riku got closer he could see there was a person in the middle of the hoard. Several of the heartless jumped at the person in the middle and Riku used time to freeze them in mid air. At that point several of the Heartless noticed Riku and turned to attack him. He stopped running and held his Keyblade up to block just in time. He was stuck in place until Rino and Rude charged forward on either side of Riku knocking the heartless back. As they fought with the Heartless the more they defeated the more would appear. At a point Rino, Riku, Rude, and the other guy were all standing backs to each other surrounded by Heartless.

"I wish these Heartless would just disappear." Riku said annoyed.

"Wish number one coming right up!" A voice said from out of nowhere.

"What?" Riku asked when blue and purple smoke billowed out of the lamp Riku picked up earlier and started to surround them. A blue skinned pointy eared man appeared from the smoke he had no legs instead from the waist down he had a smoke tail like trail. He snapped his fingers and suddenly all the Heartless were gone. Riku glanced around at the now empty scenery then stared at the blue man as he grabbed the lamp to look at it. He stared at the lamp for a moment then stared at the blue man again. Riku turned to the guy they had helped and held the lamp out towards him then said, "Here, you have it."


	31. And he's off

Sora looked towards the desert. The sands shifted and stirred restless and uneasy. "Soo thats the direction Riku went in?" Sora asked turning to look at maleficent.

"Yes. He flew off that way on a carpet with a couple of his new friends," Maleficent informed Sora.

"But theres nothing out there," Sora stated leaning forward slightly and squinted his eyes trying to look for anything besides sand.

"Oh but there is. There is a cave far out there full of treasures and among those treasures is a magic lamp that will grant three wishes to any person," A tall, creepy, and skinny man stated as he walked up followed by three bandit Heartless.

"Sora this is Jafar. You will be assisting him in finding Jasmine."

"Yes I would have had her by now if it weren't for that street rat Alladen but he shouldn't be a problem now. I-"

"I thought you brought me here because this is where Riku is."

"Of course but while you're here you might as well help Jafar. After all your friend probably doesn't even want to see you. He has more friends now. He's probably already forgotten about you and your other friend," Maleficent explained she went to put her arm around Sora but he jumped back onto a different rooftop.

"No! I won't believe it! I want to hear it from him myself!" Sora declared and took off in the direction Riku went.

"Foolish boy. He seems to be quite a hand full. Why bother keeping him around?" Jafar asked.

"Because I still have uses for him," Maleficent stated and left.


	32. Insanity much?

"Aahh fresh air," The Genie stated to himself as he flew with the group.

"Let me get this straight. You came out here to the middle of the desert to get to that cave so you could get a lamp?" Rino asked in disbelief. Rino, Rude and Goofy were walking along side the carpet which was carrying Donald, Riku and the recently rescued Aladdin.

"Yeah. I found this carpet while I was in there too, but there was a cave in and I had to use my first wish to get out. Next thing I knew I was out side the cave surrounded by those things with no sign of Abu the carpet or the lamp,"Aladdin explained.

"What did you want the lamp for anyway?" Riku asked leaning back and watching the Genii in gliding in the sky.

"Well theres this girl named Jasmine-" Aladdin started.

"Wo-hooo! Hold it! There are a few rules that I have to mention before you go any further. 1. No wishing for more wishes 2. No bringing the dead back to life and 3. No wishing that someone falls in love with you!" Genie stated.

"Well the thing is she's a princess and I don't think she even knows I exist." Aladdin finished explaining.

"So are you going to wish to be a prince?"

"YES! I can see it now! Gold, dancers, a whole parade of followers! New clothes-" the genii rambled on.

"What's your deal?" Riku suddenly asked after a moment. Genii stopped talking and looked at him. "Why do you grant peoples wishes?"

"It's all part of my contract. I have amazing ultimate powers but I'm stuck in the lamp granting the wishes of those who rub the lamp. I'm lucky to see the light of day every century or two." Genii explained.

"Hey, maybe I can use my last wish to free you."

"You'd do that? Really!?"

"Yeah."

"Riku. Is that your friend over there?" Rino asked looking out into the distance.

Riku turned to look. He squinted to see through the waves of rising heat. In the distance he could see a figure collapsed on the ground. He jumped off the carpet and ran towards the figure.

"He- Hey wait up!" Rino stated and chased after Riku with Rude right behind him.

When Riku reached the body he slid to a stop kicking up a small cloud of sand. He stared down at the person and recognized him as Sora.

"Is that your friend?" Rino asked when he reached Riku. "Must have fainted from dehydration. Or maybe heat exhaustion."

Riku started to lift Sora's body when Rude came over and helped him. "Do you think you could get him out of here?" Riku asked Rude. Rude nodded. "Take him to the coliseum. I'll head there when I'm done here."

Rude nodded again and threw Sora over his shoulder. "Wait a minute! Why are you taking orders from this kid!?" Rino asked trailing behind Rude for once while Riku headed towards the others. When he reached the others he jumped on to the carpet almost knocking Goofy off.

"So where to now?" Riku asked.

"To Agrabah to find Jasmine!" Aladdin exclaimed. At that the carpet raced towards the city with Genie along side.

When they reached the town Riku instantly jumped off the carpet and looked up at the walls of the town. The carpet touched ground then Goofy and Aladdin stepped off of it. "So uh, Aladdin, where do ya live?"

"I'll show ya, come on," Aladdin stated to head into the town and waved for the others to follow. A little ways in he started climbing up to a doorway off of the street. As they went up Riku recognized it as the place he climbed earlier where he found the carpet. When the reached the room Goofy and Donald glanced around it. Aladdin glanced out a giant hole in the wall then started pacing. "Where could Jasmine be?" he asked himself as he paced.

Goofy glanced out the hole in the wall and noticed someone. "Say, uh is that her?" Goofy asked pointing to a girl with long black hair tied back being chased by Heartless. Everyone clumped at the window almost knocking goofy out to see her.

"Thats her! Jasmine!" Aladdin yelled trying to get her attention. She turned her head to look up at him but tripped allowing the Heartless time to catch up with her. "Jasmine!," Aladdin yelled again as Riku moved away from the window. She managed to get back to her feet as a heartless swung its sword back and threw it at her.

The carpet flew over everyones heads with Riku crouched low on top of it. The carpet took him down to where Jasmine was and he deflected the sword but it skimmed his arm slightly. Jasmine looked at hi in slight shock. "Go, I'll hold them off," Riku said and turned his attention towards the Heartless. Goofy jumped out of the hole to help Riku and Donald followed after him. Aladdin jumped down but glanced in the direction Jasmine went. "Follow her. Make sure no other Heartless are after her," Riku commanded as he started to fight the Heartless there.

Aladdin turned to look at Riku. "Right," he said and gave a slight nod. He raced off in the direction Jasmine went. As he raced off he dropped the lamp. Riku noticed but when he went to go pick it up a parrot flew down and scooped it up first. Riku stared at the bird as it flew off.

"Riku, watch out!" Goofy yelled. Riku turned around just in time to get thrown to the ground by a Heartless. Instantly he rolled back then sprang forward knocking several Heartless down. He whirled around to face the Heartless again and shot a blizzard at them. Goofy charged through them making most of them disappear and the rest go flying. Donald zapped the remaining ones making them disappear.

Riku glanced around, "Well that takes care of that."

"Where's Aladdin?" Goofy asked.

"Don'no but a flying feather duster flew off with the lamp." Riku pointed with his Keyblade the direction the parrot went.

"Jasmine!" Aladdin's voice rang from a distance. Riku looked at Donald and Goofy then raced off in the direction Aladdin was. When he got there he skidded t a halt to see a skinny tall man in black and rad clothes standing on a higher ledge. "Let her go Jafar!" Aladdin commanded but the man did not seem to care.

"Back to your hole street rat. The princess has no reason to associate with the likes of you," Jafar said waving a staff at Aladdin. Jafar reached his hand up as a parrot flew over and the parrot dropped the lamp into Jafar's open hand.

"What?!" Aladdin checked himself and realized he didn't have the lamp on him. He looked back up at Jafar but he was gone. "Where did he go?" Aladdin asked looking around. A swarm of Heartless materialized around them. Riku whistled randomly.

"We don't have time for this come on!" Riku said as the carpet swooped down. Goofy, Donald, Riku and Aladdin all jumped on and the carpet climbed steeply almost making Donald tumbling off but Goofy an Riku grabbed him before he was too far.

"Where's it taking us?" Donald asked when he was back safely on the carpet.

"To the cave of wonder that must be where Jafar went." Aladdin said pointing to the tiger head. The carpet flew straight into the cave by passing many Heartless along the way. The carpet jerked to a stop and landed in a room with high stacks of gold. Riku glanced at the doorway they had stopped in front of.

"You think the Gothic bean pole is right through here?" Riku inquired as he walked through the doorway. The others followed him through into an open room with Jafar standing on the other side of the room. Jasmine was laying on the ground at Jafar's feet.

"Genie, show me the keyhole." A giant keyhole surfaced on the wall behind Jafar. He turned to see Aladdin and the others standing in the door way. Jafar raised up the lamp, "Genie, send Jasmine to Maleficent."

"No!" Aladdin yelled and ran towards Jafar. Genie snapped his fingers and Jasmine disappeared. Aladdin continued but hit a barrier and was sent flying backwards.

Jafar eyed Aladdin. "Genie,"he boomed, "my third wish: make me an all powerful Genie!" Genie closed his eyes and zapped Jafar and he started to change into a giant red Genie. The floor collapsed and Riku and the others were thrown on to a moving surface of rocks surrounded by a mote of lava. Riku rolled to his feet and looked up at Jafar.

"Whoa is that really the anorexic creep?" Riku asked. Jafar threw a rock and Riku who rolled out of the way. Aladdin grabbed the lamp next to him then looked around.

"Where's Jafar's lamp?" Aladdin asked.

"The feather duster has it," Riku announced pointing at the parrot with a black lamp. Aladdin was about to run for the parrot but a giant boulder crashed into the ground in front of him blocking the way. "Aladdin, just wish for it!" Riku said. Aladdin looked at the lamp but looked up when he realized another boulder was flying at him. Riku ran over and managed to move Aladdin out of the way.

"Genie," Aladdin said as he rubbed the lamp, "I wish I had Jafar's lamp." Jafar's lamp appeared in Aladdin's other hand.

"What!?" Jafar demanded but started to get sucked into his lamp.

"Hope you like your new room," Riku said. The carpet flew down and brought them all up to the room where the keyhole was so Riku could lock it. He turned to see Aladdin sitting down looking sad with Genie hovering around him.

"Come on Al, you still have one more wish. Use it," Genie prompted.

"I wish for your freedom Genie," Aladdin said with no hesitation. Riku glanced at Donald and Goofy.

"Hey Aladdin, if we happen to run into Jasmine we'll bring her back," Riku said.

"Thanks you guys," Aladdin said with a slight smile. "Well I hope to see you again soon." Riku nodded then walked away heading to the ship with Donald and Goofy behind him.


	33. Poor Rino

Sora woke up blurry eyed and glanced around. "Wha-?" Sora grumbled quietly to himself.

"Can you believe him?" Rino asked in disbelief. Without an answer he continued to complain, "he just ran off leaving us to watch this kid." Rino gestured over his shoulder at Sora. At this point Sora realized he was at the coliseum just outside where the games were held. Rino was talking to someone out of sight in the doorway to the arena. " I barely even know this kid why do I have to watch him? I can't believe you agreed to bring him here. What were you thinking?"

Sora paused for a moment then got up and left the building. Rino and Rude glanced at the door thinking someone came in but realized no one did. Rino glanced at Sora then did a double take noticing he wasn't there. Rino charged out to try and catch Sora but didn't have any luck seeing he was already gone. Rino paused a moment still hoping to spot Sora when it was for sure he was gone Rino leaned against the wall and groaned.

"What is with these kids and disappearing?" Rino asked the air. "Great now Cid AND Riku are going to yell at me."

Sora stood near the front of the ship. Deep in thought he stared out not seeing the stars in the sky. His thoughts fluttered between thoughts of his friends, and his home.

"Still gloomy?" A man in red with a hook for a hand asked. "You're not still sulking over that friend of yours are you? Give up on him he's obviously left you behind ever since he got that Keyblade."

"Yeah," Sora agreed glumly.

"You still need to find your other friend don't you?"

"Yeah. I hope Kairi's ok," Sora said looking up at the sky.


	34. Gone

Sorry this took so long. I'll have another posted soon.

* * *

Riku entered the coliseum building but no one was there. He went into the arena to see Phil but no one else. "Hey, goat man," Riku called as he approached Phil.

"Goat man? I-" Phil started to protest.

"Have you seen Rino?"

"Oh he was here but he left. He said something about having to catch another kid."

"You mean Sora?"

"Yeah, that's the one. No clue where he is now." Phil said and started to walk away.

"Where would Sora go?" Riku mumbled.

"Hey, Riku, are you here to enter another tornament?" Herc asked as he entered the arena.

"No. I have to find my friend. He was supposed to be here but he's gone." Riku said as he headed for the door.

"Good luck with that," Herc called.

Riku left the building and stopped just outside the door to see Rude standing in front of him. They stared at each other for a moment before Rude spoke. "I need your help."


	35. Help

Rude explained to Riku, Donald and Goofy about how Sora disappeared and that Rino went after him. While Rino was out looking for him he some how managed to get swallowed by a giant whale swimming around in space and now he couldn't get out. During Rudes explanation Riku was staring at him shocked.

"So you can talk like normal people," Riku said. Rude stared at him for a moment.

"Will you help?" Rude asked ignoring the comment.

"Yeah and I think I know where this whale is too. Let's go!" Riku said and they all headed for the gummi ship. Donald got them to the place where Riku originally managed to escape the whale but it wasn't there. They explored the area but they still couldn't find it.

"How does a giant whale just disappear!" Donald demanded.

"Maybe it swam away," Rude pointed out.

"Was this the area where Rino in countered it?" Riku asked and Rude nodded. "Then it'll most likely come back."

"So we just need to wait for it to come swallow us up?" Donald asked sarcastically.

"No. I don't think we need to wait," Riku said staring out into space.

"And why not?"

"Because I think it's going to swallow us now," Riku said pointing out.

"What?" Donald turned just in time to see the whale open its mouth and eat them. Once they were inside the whale they exited the Gummi ship while Donald was throwing a fit. "You sould have said something sooner!"

"I thought I was quite clear that the whale was right there," Riku said as he looked around. They were in the creature's mouth and there was a bunch or pieces of wrecked ships and some water. Donald grumbled in the background.

"Any idea where he might be from here?" Riku asked Rude. Rude just shrugged. "Then we should start looking." Riku said and jumped onto a floating piece of wood. Rude followed him across to the other end of the whale's mouth where a boat was mostly in tact. Riku could hear movement on the boat and went up to see if it was Rino but it was an old man instead. The man was pacing back and forth on the boat worried.

"Hey, is something wrong?" Riku asked. The man was startled by Riku but calmed down.

"Oh, Monstro must have swallowed you too. Well you see my boy Pinocchio was here just a moment ago but then he wandered off and I don't know why. It's dangerous here and I'm not sure I could go after him," the man explained pointing to a hole where Pinocchio went.

"Alright I'll see if I can find him then. I'm already looking for someone else so it's not a problem," Riku added as the man was about to protest.

"Alright but remember it's dangerous."

Riku nodded and headed for the hole the man pointed to.

Riku started to explore the different areas of the whale. He soon realized the place was like a maze. As he and his companions explored the area Riku got separated from the others. When he went to find him he ended up back where he started. Riku stared at the broken boats wondering where the others could be.

He went back into the maze to try and find everyone. He found himself in a pit like area that only had one reachable exit. There was a high area but he couldn't reach it. Riku crossed his arms and looked around trying to figure out if the pit looked familiar but all of the placed looked a like.

Riku suddenly heard a loud squak and looked up to see Donald and Goofy falling from the upper area. Riku moved out of the way and watched as the two hit the ground. "Well this seems familiar," Riku said as Donald got up. Donald grumbled as Rude jumped down from the ledge.

"Heartless!" Donald yelled pointing to where they had all fallen from.

"Rino," Rude stated.

The Heartless was big. It had two arm-like appendages that were swinging around wildly. It used its arms to swing its self over the ledge and they all had to move so it didn't land on them. Riku didn't know why Rude had said Rino until Riku noticed that in the Heartless's mouth Rino was caged with a wooden puppet.

"Guys. Some help would be nice," Rino said.

Riku charged at the Heartless and started attacking. Shortly after Rude, Donald and Goofy joined in. The Heartless swung at them knocking them back for a moment. No matter how much they hit it the thing didn't seem to want to let go of Rino.

"Why isn't it working?" Rino asked.

"Why don't you ask the Heartless?" Riku said. He jumped back just as the thing started swinging at them again and before they could move in to attack it went up the cliff and disappeared.

Rude started running and the others followed. They went through several doors and found themselves on the upper area where the pit was. The Heartless was there and it didn't seem happy to see them. It attacked them and managed to knock Riku back. Riku got back up and saw a glimpse of dark hair and a red outfit.

"Sora?" Riku wondered but before he could go after him the Heartless tried to attack Riku again. Riku blocked and jumped to hit the thing in the head. The attack seemed to stun the Heartless because its mouth fell open. Rino got out of it as Donald cast lightning that finished the Heartless off.

The second the battle was over Riku ran after who he thought was Sora. "Sora!" He called in the next area but there was no sign of anyone else. Riku kept going until he was back where the shipwrecks were. He spotted the red outfit again just to realize it wasn't Sora. "Pinocchio," Riku stated looking at the wooden boy. The others caught up to him as he looked at the boy and started feeling sad.


	36. Under the sea

Once they returned Pinocchio to the man Riku and the others left Monstro. Rino had apologized for losing Sora and Promised to help find him. Rude left to go back to the Coliseum to see if Sora might have gone back there while Rino went with Riku and the others to look for Sora. Riku was sad for a bit but managed to cheer up.

"Hey Sora probably left to keep looking for Kairi. When we see him I can tell him she's safe," Riku said with a grin.

"So that's more reason to find him then!" Rino said glad to see Riku was in a better mood.

"Yeah. On to the next world!" Riku said.

"When did you stop driving?" Donald asked.

"Oh come on you didn't even want me to drive in the first place." Riku pointed out and Donald huffed.

Donald got them to the next world which was all water. "How can we go there? I can't breathe under water."

"Leave that to me. Let's go!"

"Wait-" before Riku could say anything else they were in the water. Riku held his breath and tried to swim up when he realized that he was moving differently. He looked down to see his lower half had become a silvery tail for swimming. "Woah," Riku said as he looked at the tail.

"Gyaaa! Where's my suit. Where's my shirt?" Rino asked. Riku looked over to see Rino had also gotten a fish like tail but it was red. Rino was also trying to cover his torso with his arms.

"Do you have a phobia of skin or something?" Riku asked.

"No, I just want to know why my shirt is gone!" Rino stated.

"Just deal with it. I'm sure you'll have your shirt back when we leave." Riku said. He was already adjusting to his new body.

Rino sighed and was slowly sinking. "I don't think we're going to find Sora here so maybe I could just go wait on the ship.

"If you want to turkey," Riku said as he swam over to Donald and Goofy. Goofy had become a turtle and Donald looked like an octopus that was half duck.

"Get it right for once. The group is known as Terks." Rino said. He hit the sea floor and realized he had been sinking. He swam awkwardly for a moment as he went to join the others.

"Help!" someone yelled. They all turned to see a yellow and blue fish swimming their way. The fish saw them and went up to them. "Please you have to help! My friend, she's being attacked by monsters!"

"Monsters?" Rino muttered.

"Where?" Riku asked and pulled out his keyblade. The fish started swimming and they all followed it. The fish lead them to a big area where a mermaid with red hair was being chased around by heartless. As they approached the heartless managed to corner her.

"Ariel!" the fish yelled and was about to swim over to her.

"Hey, don't go in there you'll just get hurt." Rino said and grabbed the fish as Riku and Goofy swam over to help. Donald was already casting magic to beat back the Heartless from the mermaid. Once she was no longer cornered she did her best to help fight off the strange jellyfish-like Heartless.

They managed to defeat the Heartless quickly and Riku looked around to make sure there weren't more of them. "Oh thank you for helping me." The mermaid said.

Riku turned to her and smile slightly. "No problem."

"I'm Ariel, and that's Flounder." She said and gestured to the fish that got loose from Rino's arms. "You're not from around here are you?" she asked swimming around Riku.

"No. We're here because we're trying to find somebody." Riku explained.

"Ariel!" A voice called. Everyone looked over to see a crab swimming their way. "Ariel, you can't just go running off like that. You could get into danger especially with those monsters lurking about."

"Sebastian, I'm just fine. Look, these people even helped me get away from those monsters," Ariel said and gestured to Riku and his friends.

"And who might you be?" Sebastian demanded from Riku. Everyone introduced themselves except Rino who was forgotten in the background and skipped over.

"Well thank you for helping Ariel but we really should be getting back now. The king will be worried if you don't return soon." Sebastian said.

"Okay. Riku, do you think you can come with us? Just incase those creatures attack again?" Ariel asked.

"Sure, we can keep an eye out for our friend while we're at it," Riku said turning to look at Donald and Goofy who nodded in agreement.


	37. King's request

Riku and his friends escorted Ariel back to the palace. They faced Heartless along the way but they were easy to get rid of. The whole time they were traveling Riku was keeping an eye out for Sora but he wasn't any where to be found.

They entered the thrown room to see a merman with a long white beard sitting on the throne. Arial went up to him. "Hi, daddy," she said.

"Where have you been?" he asked.

"She was running away from those monsters your majesty." Sebastian said.

"And who are they?"

"They're friends I made. They helped me get away from those monsters." Ariel explained.

"We should be going though. I still need to find my friend." Riku said.

"Can I help?" Ariel asked.

"No you cannot! You weren't supposed to leave in the first place!" Sebastian stated.

"But they helped me, the least I can do is help them."

"No, you are supposed to stay in the castle."

"Stop being so crabby. She just wants to help," Riku said. Sebastian looked offended.

"I agree with Sebastian. As long as those monsters are around you should stay here where it's safe."

"But Daddy-"

"I have made my decision." The king stated. Ariel pouted then swam away. "As for you; you're not from around here are you?"

"How could you tell?" Riku asked glancing at Rino.

"Why are you looking at me!" Rino demanded but Riku didn't answer.

"You should know that you are not supposed to meddle in the affairs of other worlds. I thank you for saving my daughter but you should leave."

"Alright." Riku said with a shrug.

"You're going to do as he says?" Rino asked surprised.

"He doesn't want my help with things here. Besides he's the king." Riku said. "If it's alright I would like to look around a bit more to see if my friend is here. I'll leave once I finish looking."

"Very well but be quick about it."

Riku nodded and left the thrown room.

"So where are we going to look?" Rino asked.

"Where we haven't yet." Riku stated.

They looked around and found their way to a wrecked ship. A shark was swimming around and they decided to leave that area alone for now. Riku started messing around at a point and got a ride on a dolphin.

"Are you serious! If that king finds you're messing around we could get into trouble!" Rino said trying to keep up with the dolphin. Riku let go of the dolphine and Rino swam past him but stopped quickly. Rino looked at Riku to see he was staring seriously at something. Rino looked to see the king swimming towards them. "I told you," Rino hissed in a hushed voice.

"Please, I need your help," the king said when he reached them. Rino, Donald and Goofy looked at him surprised.

"Help with what?" Riku asked crossing his arms.

"Ursala, the sea witch, has taken Ariel."

"I thought I wasn't supposed to meddle."

"I know but I can't get her back myself."

"Alright. We'll get her back, don't worry," Riku said with a grin.

They went back to the shipwreck because it was the one area they didn't search. Sebastian was sent with them even though Riku didn't understand why. They went into the shipwreck to see if there was a hidden passageway in there.

"Riku, I don't think this is a good idea." Rino said staring out the window of the ship.

"Why?"

Rino moved away from the window just as the shark bashed into it. "That's why!" The shark managed to get it's self stuck and was thrashing around trying to get loose.

"That's helpful. Now we don't have to worry about it chasing us. Come on let's go," Riku said.

The swam around the area and found a rock with a picture on it. Sebastian managed to press a hidden switch that opened the way to Ursala's hideout.

They made their way through into a cave that looked like a giant mouth. At the bottom were a bunch of strange creatures.

"What are those?" Rino wondered.

They continued on to find Ariel and Ursals further in. Ursala was trying to talk Ariel into doing something.

"Don't trust her, Ariel." Riku said as he entered.

"What? How did you get here?" Ursala demanded.

"We followed the path how else?" Riku asked as if it were a stupid question.

Ursala looked mad. "How dare you come in here unannounced?"

"Ariel, she's bad news. We have out of here."

"I don't think so. Ariel's not going anywhere. She's staying here with me!"

Ariel looked at Ursala and started to swim away but Ursala's eels wrapped around her and trapped her.

Riku and the others got ready to fight. "Let her go!"

"As if," Ursala said and tossed a bottle into the cauldron thing making a whole bunch of sparks and smoke.

"Rino, can you get Ariel? We'll deal with the witch."

"Sure, leave it to me. Hey wait why-?" before Rino could finish his sentence Riku was gone. He disappeared into the smoke to attack Ursala. Donald and Goofy were helping him out. They managed to beat her back after a while.

"You'll pay for this." Ursala said before swimming away.

"Most bad guys say that," Riku mumbled then turned to look for Rino and Ariel. Rino was swimming back into the area. "Where's Ariel?"

"With her dad. I took her back while you were fighting."

"Good, then our business is done here." Riku said.

"Let's get going then," Rino said slightly happily.


	38. Walk the plank

"One more world to visit." Riku stated looking at the world that they just arrived at.

"Shall we?" Donald asked.

"Yeah, let's go." Riku said with a nod. Riku looked over at Rino. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah," Rino said.

They disembarked and found themselves on top of a giant clock tower. Riku glanced over the edge to see how high up they were. "I'm not sure this was the best place to start." Riku pointed out.

"How do we get down?" Goofy wondered.

"Not sure. Hey Rino-" Riku stopped mid scentence when he saw Rino staring down towards the ground. "Are you scared of highs?"

Rino laughed and looked at Riku. "No. It just reminds me of the Shinra building."

Riku stared at Rino not sure what a 'Shinra' was. Rino waved it off know Riku was going to ask.

"Hey, how did all of you get up here?" someone asked. Everyone looked to see a boy in green hovering in the air. They all stared at him for a moment.

"How can you fly?" Riku asked.

"With pixy dust. If you're stuck I'm sure Tink will help you out." The boy said as a little yellow fairy started flying around him.

"That would be great." Riku said with a grin. The fairy flew into his face and stomped her foot before turning to the boy. "Did I make her mad?" Riku asked watching as the fairy seemed to be talking. She crossed her arms and nodded at him. "What did I do?" he asked the fairy but she flew over to the boy.

"She's just like that sometimes." The boy said as he grabbed the fairy. He shook her over Riku causing dust to fall on him.

"Hey! What about us?" Donald asked.

"Sorry. No adults allowed." The boy stated as he let go of the fairy. "By the way I'm Peter, this is Tinkerbell."

"Nice to meet you both; I'm Riku. So, how do I make it work?" Riku asked.

"Just believe you can fly." Peter stated. Tinkerbell was trying to get his attention. "I have to get going. Someone needs my help." Peter said as he flew off.

"Just believe?" Riku said and looked down over the edge of the tower. He closed his eyes and took a step off of the building. He could hear Rino, Donald and Goofy freaking out but there was no reason to because he had started hovering the second he stepped of.

"So now what? We're still stuck here." Rino stated.

"You guys stay here. I'm going to go find Sora."

"Be quick about it," Donald said as Riku flew away.

He flew out of the town and eventually found a pirate ship. He spotted Peter and decided to investigate. Peter saw him coming and waved him over. Riku went over to where he was. "You're helping someone on a pirate ship?"

"She's being held captive. We'll have to get past Hook before we can get to Wendy though."

"Hook?"

"Him," Peter said pointing to a man in red.

"He doesn't look that tough." Riku stated.

"Nope. He's just an old cod fish."

Riku looked at hook's crew and he spotted Sora which surprised him. "Sora."

"How?" Pan asked looking. "That boy?"

"Yeah. I've been trying to find him."

"Is he a captive too?" Pan asked as if ready to fight.

"Let's find out," Riku said jumping from the hiding place. As Riku approached hook and Sora a group of Heartless appeared and blocked the way. Riku came to a stop before he ran into their swords.

"What? How did you get here?" Hook asked. Sora looked over surprised but before he could speak Hook spoke. "What are you doing on my ship?"

"I'm here for my friend." Riku stated.

"Friend? You can't mean him," hook said gesturing to Sora. "The person he's been looking for is a girl. You must be here with Pan then! Heartless, get him!"

Before Riku could say anything else the Heartless attacked. Riku flew out of the way just to find out that there were flying Heartless there. Riku mainly dodged them as he tried to get to Sora but that proved futile. He started hacking and slashing away at the Heartless but there were too many for him to take care of on his own.

"Need some help?" Peter asked as he flew out to take care of a Heartless that was about to attack Riku from behind.

"That would be great. Once these guys are out of the way we can deal with Hook." Riku stated. With Peter's help they were able to get rid of the Heartless with ease.

"Where did that old cod fish go?" Peter asked looking around the deck. Both Hook and Sora had disappeared. Riku could hear talking and was able to track it to a door. He waved Peter over and they listened for a moment.

"Where is Smee? He should be here!" Hook said.

Peter held back a laugh and told Riku to get out of sight. Riku flew to the deck above the door as Peter stood behind where to door would open. "Captain," Peter said in a weird voice, "Peter and his friend are gone."

"Really!" Hook asked. Before Pan could say anything else Hook burst through the door and looked around. Riku grinned and flew over Hook. He imitated pulling Hook's hat over his eyes and Pan nodded strongly in agreement. "Smee? Whe- Agh!" Riku pulled hook's hat down causing it to get stuck over her eyes. Peter moved forward and poked Hook in the back with his dagger making Hook jump into the air. At that point both Riku and Pan gave him a push so he fell onto the lower deck. "Peter Pan!" hook roared as he got is hat off. "You'll pay for this!"

Riku turned to see Sora in the room. "Sora! I know where Kairi is!" Riku said but before he could continue Hook attacked. Pan pulled Riku out of the way.

"Don't ignore me brat." Hook said.

"Looks like we'll have to deal with him first." Pan said ready to fight.

Hook started swinging his sword at Riku and Pan but they were messing around with him. They stayed on opposite sides of him and when his attention was on one of them the other would attack him or distract him. They managed to get his hat stuck on his head again and he wandered towards the plank. Pan and Riku grinned at this. Pan went to the other side of the plank and started taunting Hook.

"Come on you old cod fish, you're making this too easy."

"I'll show you-" Hook started as he swung his sword but he realized how unstable the deck was. By that time it was too late for him to do anything about it because Riku gave him the last nudge he needed to fall off the plank. Hook splashed into the water then started swimming away yelling for Smee.

Peter and Riku both laughed as Hook swam away. "Thanks for the help, it was sure fun."

"No problem," Riku said with a grin. Peter left to find Wendy and Riku went to find Sora but he wasn't on the ship. With Sora gone the only thing left to do was go back to the others and tell them what happened.

Riku got back to the others and he told them about finding Sora but that Sora disappeared.

"Maybe he went to the coliseum. You said to meet there if either of you got information right?" Rino suggested.

"Yeah, You're right." Riku said and nodded. Riku smiled hoping they would find Sora there.


	39. Sephiroth

Riku and the others went to the Coliseum. Rude was standing outside looking like a statue or a bodyguard for the building. His arms were crossed and he didn't move an inch even though Riku was convinced he was watching them with those shades of his.

"Rude, have you seen the other kid? You know the one with brown hair." Rino asked as they approached. Rude shook his head.

"Hey, it's the hero to be!" Phil said as he came out of the building.

"Hey short man. Did anything new happen while I was gone?" Riku asked

"Well there's a new challenger in the arena and he's powerful!"

"Cool. Can I take him on?"

"I don't know, I think he's out of your league."

"He's gotten much stronger since the last time he was here," Rino commented.

Phil stroked his goatee and thought about it. "I don't know. He's powerful. He won't be easy to fight."

"what if these two back me up?" Riku asked gesturing to Rino and Rude.

"Weeeelll. Alright, but if you start having too much trouble I want you out of there." Phil said.

Riku smiled. "Deal."

They went into the coliseum. Rino was complaining about how Riku always dragged him into things. They entered the arena to see a man already in there. He had long silver hair, dark coat, one black wing and an extremely long sword.

"Wait, HE's the challenger?" Rino asked horrified.

"What, you know him?" Riku asked.

"Yeah. Sorry kid I'm not fighting him. Rude let's-" Rino turned to Rude to see he was already gone. Rino turned to see him walking out of the arena. "Wait for me!" Rino yelled as he ran after him.

Riku watched the leave shocked then turn back to the silver haired man. "Who are you?"

"Sephiroth." He grabbed his sword preparing to fight and smiled slightly. "It looks like those two aren't as big of fools as you are."

"What makes me a fool?" Riku asked.

"You are still standing here to challenge me." Sephiroth said and slashed at Riku. It caught him by surprise and he was knocked back. He pulled the Keyblade out and was ready to fight as Sephiroth just calmly walked around the arena.

"Was that all you had?" Riku asked provoking Sephiroth.

"You really want to taunt me? Very well, I'll show you just how big of a fool you are." Sephiroth said and disappeared. Riku stood there wondering where he went. He looked around but didn't see him. He suddenly heard the clang of metal on metal behind him and turned around. He was shocked to see Sora standing there between Himself and Sephiroth.

"Sora! What are you doing here?" Riku asked.

"I couldn't let you fight this guy alone, not when you still have to help me find Kairi." Sora said watching as Sephiroth calmly walked around.

"Right. Think he can beat this guy?" Riku asked.

"If we work together." Sora said. They smiled at each other for a moment before they both turned to Sephiroth ready to fight.

"Very well, I shall teach you both a lesson."

He took a few steps towards them then slashed at them. He was still a distance away from them but his sword was long enough to reach them.

"Man I don't know which is cheaper: the length of his sword or the fact that he can teleport." Riku grumbled.

"I don't think that's what we need to worry about." Sora pointed out.

Sephiroth charged towards them again and the rolled out of the way of his sword just in time. They rolled in opposite directions which would work to their advantage. Sephiroth seem to decide his target was Riku and went after him. He moved around while attacking but Riku and Sora managed to get some hits in between his attacks.

"Out of my way," he said and summoned three huge pillars of fire around him. Sora was far enough away that he didn't get hit but Riku wasn't so lucky. Riku got knocked into the center with Sephiroth and before he could react the pillars were gone and Sephiroth attacked him knocking him the other way. Sora quickly healed him as Sephiroth walked towards Riku. Riku moved away but Sephiroth jumped towards him and slashed at him while in mid air then flew back to where he started.

Sora started trying to hit Sephiroth with magic but they didn't have any effect. Sephiroth disappeared again. Sora and Riku both moved and Sephiroth reappeared trying to attack Sora. Riku was slightly behind Sephiroth and managed to get in a combo of hits. Sephiroth disappeared again then reappeared to attack Riku from behind. Riku moved away before he attacked again. Sephiroth stalked towards Riku as Riku ran around. Once Sephiroth was close enough he tried to attack Riku but Riku jumped into the air avoiding the attack. Sora came up behind Sephiroth and managed to get a few hits in before Sephiroth jumped over Sora. He turned around and slashed at him.

"I'm not sure this is going so well," Sora said as he healed himself.

"I think we're doing well so far," Riku said.

Sephiroth moved towards Riku. He dashed forward and Riku rolled past him. When Sephiroth glided back to where he dashed from Riku was there to land another combo of hits.

Sephiroth disappeared and Riku ran from where he was. Sephiroth reappeared a few steps behind Riku and only hit air when he swung his sword. Riku smiled at Sora and Sora grinned back realizing what Riku realized.

They both ran towards sephiroth but before they reached him he summoned the pillars of fire again and they both got caught in it. Once the fire was gone Sora moved away while Riku started attacking Sephiroth.

Sephiroth disappeared and Riku tried to roll out of the way but didn't quite make it as Sephiroth attacked. Sephiroth did not seem happy about the two of them still fighting him and started getting serious.

He moved towards Sora but it was faster now. He wasn't walking any more which was a bad sign. Sora jumped up as Sephiroth slashed at him. When he landed he got a few hit in before Sephiroth turned around and hit him back.

"I think he's getting serious!" Sora said as he ran away to heal.

"I think you're right," riku said watching as Sephiroth charged towards him. Riku rolled out of the ways and used raid to hurl his Keyblade at Sephiroth and attack from a far. Sora ran up and landed a few hits before Sephiroth called up the fire pillars. Sora got out of the way but only by moving in to attack Sephiroth.

Sephiroth disappeared again but this time he didn't attack. Instead he flew over Sora's head and landed a distance away from either of them. "Descend, Heartless angel," Sephiroth called as he started to charge a spell.

"What's he doing?" Sora asked.

"I don't know but it can't be good." Riku replied.

Riku charged at Sephiroth wanting to cut off the spell but he wasn't quick enough. A light appeared above Riku and a moment later he was out of MP and was down to one HP. Sephiroth slashed at him but Sora blocked. Riku took that moment to heal with an elixir. Sora and Riku attacked Sephiroth until he teleported. They moved expecting him to attack but instead he teleported two more times. When he stopped he started doing another spell. "I'm the chosen one." Sephiroth said as a pool of darkness appeared around his feet and darkness flew up around him. The darkness disappeared and Sephiroth was glowing.

"I think we made him mad." Riku commented

"Looks that way." Sora agreed.

Once he finished he summoned up orbs of darkness that moved towards Sora and Riku. Sora rolled out of the way but Riku got caught by the orbs. Sora attacked Sephiroth trying to throw him off balance while Riku healed.

Sephiroth summoned the pillars of fire to knock Sora back. Right afterwards he cast another spell that made meteors wall from the sky. The ripple of energy it gave of when it hit caused Sora and Riku to be knocked off balance. Riku regained his balance and saw that five meteors were now floating around the arena. One came right at him and he moved towards Sephiroth to avoid it. Sora didn't have time to react as one smacked into him. Riku was about to attack Sephiroth when he noticed a huge ball of fire was hanging over Sephiroth. The meteors disappeared and Sephiroth tossed the fire ball at the ground causing Riku to go flying.

Sora went over to Riku to make sure he was alright. Riku got up with a nod. Sephiroth was still in the middle of the arena but not for long. He hopped up and started easily jogging around the outside of the area leaving a dark orbs behind him as he circled around towards Riku and Sora. They rolled past him and attacked him from behind. Sephiroth spin around swinging his sword but they kept attacking. They had to move away when Sephiroth summoned more orbs of darkness that tried to close in on them. Another circle of dark orbs appeared and this time Sora move away while Riku moved towards Sephiroth. Riku kept attacking even through the dark orbs and Sora sat back healing him until he ran out of MP and Sephiroth teleported. Riku moved as Sephiroth reappeared to attack him. Sora started attacking Sephiroth while he tried to slash at him. Sephiroth summoned the fire pillars again and Sora moved away to wait for them to go away. Sephiroth started using dark orbs and tried dash attacking at the same time.

Sephiroth moved away after taking a few more hits from Sora. He called upon the heartless angle again and Sora and Riku raced towards him to attack. Riku managed to hit Sephiroth before he fininished making him lose control of the spell. The spell canceled as Sora and Riku got the last hits in.

Sephiroth fell to his knees and looked up at the two before floating up and disappearing in light.

Riku and Sora started at the spot as the caught their breath. They looked at each other wide eyed before they burst out laughing.

"I can't believe you beat him!" Phil said shocked as he came in.

"Well, we still have unfinished business so we couldn't lose." Riku said looking at Sora and Sora nodded in agreement.


End file.
